Guardian Angel
by thedreamer256
Summary: Kicked out of his own house by Kazuki, Len finds an unconscious Kahoko. Without even questioning her identity, he takes her in to live with him. The road of music, friendship, and love may be the most life changing event for Kahoko...as well as Len. #2
1. Beginnings

**Konichiwa! Welcome to my second fanfiction! Okay, so first thing's first. I really enjoyed writing this story because it has a different writing style than my first one (A Fateful Engagement). Anyway, as I was saying I really enjoyed writing this story so I hope you readers will enjoy reading it as much as I do. *Character descriptions are from the anime, but the characters are the same***

******Song Pick: Brand New Breeze by Kanon**

**Disclaimer: La Corda D'oro is not mine or else I would've made the couple be together already. DUH! (It was pointless to put disclaimers on every chapter, so I'll just do it at the beginning. The point is it doesn't belong to me.)**

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**Guardian Angel**

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**A La Corda d'Oro Fanfiction**

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**Chapter 1**

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Snow…that was all she could see around her. Then, the pink sakura tree above her made her realize that she wasn't completely surrounded by snow. A sakura tree garden surrounded her on all sides and it never seemed to end. The world looked like a winter wonderland, and it made her smile. "Finally," her voice was barely audible. "I…es…caped." The skinny girl only wore a red trench coat and worn leather boots, which were clearly uncomfortable in the freezing weather. The rectangular maroon case that was strapped on her back slid to the side. A cold wind breezed by, and she instantly sneezed. Her cheeks and nose were a crimson red color, almost like fire. When you touched her, it seemed like she would break, like glass. Pale white snow buried the tips of her fire-engine hair and the snow piled on. Nails that were originally pink (she'd never painted them in her life), gradually turned an unnaturally purple color on her pale skin. Another breeze flew by and the snow blew faster, shaking the trees with a great rustle as if an invisible hand forced them to shake. The tree near her shook and thousands of petals gracefully floated to the ground.

"Pre…tty," As she raised her hand up to catch a petal, her system shut down and became lifeless. She plunged into another world of never ending darkness, the place she hated the most. Her eyes drooped down as she managed to scream another word before she fainted. "No!" Her pale hand loosed around the petal that she'd managed to grasp before she closed her eyes.

And in her faint subconsciousness, there appeared a cold blue haired man playing a very delicate piece on violin. He appeared very much like an angel. _Who is this? It's...Ave Maria…beautiful._

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"Damn that Kazuki," Len grunted. It wasn't everyday that he got kicked out of his own home. He stepped outside of his house, carrying his precious violin in its fragile case. His golden eyes scanned the horizon, only seeing snow, snow, and…more snow. _Where am I going to practice now?_

_:-:Len's house; approximately 40 minutes ago:-:_

_Ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong~ding~dong!_

The messy blue haired man woke up with a groan, waking up from his sleep. He threw over his covers and lazily got out of his comfortable bed. "Who in the world would be up at," he glanced over at his alarm clock. "…seven in the morning?" His face recovered from his yawn as he began to realize that only one person in the whole entire universe would wake up early in the morning and still have the energy to annoy people. _Hihara Kazuki._ His slippers slid one after another down the elaborate modern stairs. Reluctantly, he paused at the bottom of the stairs and continued to walk to the front door before halting at his frosted French glass door again. He slapped himself in the forehead.

A distinct loud slap could be heard on the other side of the door where the eager green haired man stood with his chocolate colored trumpet case. He shivered through his white athletic leather jacket and a single red lanyard drooped out of his cargo pants. The sun's rays reflected off of his tan skin and his muscled arm went up to his chin in thought. "What the hell is taking Tsukimori so long? Is he slapping himself to wake himself up? That's an old trick, not to mention that's pretty insane for Tsukimori." Right after he said that, the door creaked a small crack and a golden eye peered out at him. "Hihara-senpai, what the hell are you doing in front of my house?" The chilly air made him shiver in his pajamas.

"Tsukimori!" Kazuki exclaimed with all of his energy. "I came to practice! Oh, and don't call me senpai anymore! We're already out of school you know!"

_Except you. You still act like a kid. _"Uuuughhhhhh," was the reply that came out of the grumpy, disheveled guy. He "accidentally" left the door open and flopped onto his sleek black leather couch. He didn't even bother to pick up his newspaper that was sadly perched upon his doorstep. A draft of cold air sent Kazuki jumping into the house and closing the door with a crashing bang. "Man, its cold outside~!"

"Kazuki, why are you coming over to practice at my house?" Len spoke with his arm over his eyes. _This really can't be happening._

The athletic man plopped on the same exact sofa across from him. "Well, I was practicing my trumpet at five in the morning for the upcoming concert Kanayan told us to do, you know," he paused and took out his silver trumpet that shone in the sunlight. "But the neighbors and Yunoki complained about the noise, so I had to go someplace else to practice. Tsuchiura told me to go to hell and slammed the door in my face." He counted his fingers down, not worrying about the insult. "Shimizu was still sleeping next to his cello, I bet. And Fuyuumi told me to go to your place since her house was also surrounded by grouchy people." The electric bulb smile lit up on his face as he explained further. "And so, I've ended up at your place since your neighbors are a mile away, so they probably wouldn't hear me."

The couch groaned and protested under Len's weight as he shifted his position. "Yeah, well just practice in one of those practice rooms down the hall," his finger pointed to where a row of rooms lined the hall. "I'm going to make breakfast and change." Blue slippers scratched the marble tiled floor and he made his way to the modern stairs.

"Hey Len!" Hihara hesitated before speaking another word. Len turned to face him with his eyes half opened, expecting more to come out of his mouth. "Nothing. I'll tell you when you finish changing."

Len felt that something was wrong, but disregarded the feeling. He strode toward his room on the second floor, stopping in his room to look longingly at his fluffy bed which was pushed into the north wall. A comfy looking blue, white, and green plaid blanket was stretched across the king sized canopy bed. Foam pillows were covered in black and white music notes. The sheets were even made of blue and white decorative microfibers. Soft light caramel curtains were stretched on top of the entire bed. True, the appearance of it was distorted, but it was comfy nevertheless. On the entire left side of his wall were floor to ceiling windows that were covered with thick blue satin curtains. He yanked them apart and flinched at the bright sunlight. The windows overlooked a side of the iced and chilly garden and part of the partly busy city. He looked back to the right wall which had plenty of books showcased in built in bookshelves. Music books, fiction books, biographies, literature, he had them all in his room. On the southern wall was his idle white Mac computer, nestled on a clean obsidian desk. A lonely crystal ball that shone in the sunlight was sitting in between other souvenirs and decorations. He sighed and ran his index finger over the ball and walked into the walk-in closet that was next to his desk. A full length mirror hung on one wall as he chose his outfit of the day.

A crisp long sleeve shirt clung to him and he wore a simple vest over it. Brown trousers rolled down to his ankles. Carefully closing the door to his room, he thought of what to eat for breakfast. _Yogurt should do for today._ At the end of the stairs, he was not in the least bit surprised to see Hihara rummaging through his refrigerator and tossing out all the food that was in it.

"Dude, there's like nothing in your refrigerator! All of this is healthy stuff and half of it is sugar-free yogurt! How could you survive on this stuff in your entire life?" Shaggy green hair and hazel eyes peered over the refrigerator door. "Hey Tsukimori! You can tell me stuff you know. Are you on a _diet_?"

"No, I'm not. Didn't you eat breakfast already?" His hands gracefully picked up his precious sugar-free yogurt from the floor. Pulling out a silver spoon from the kitchen drawer, he went to his glass table in the dining room and started eating. Snow fell outside another full length window that was stretched on a wall and danced in the breeze, creating a show of entertainment.

A stomach growl roared and echoed in the kitchen. Hihara put his hands over his stomach. "I did, but I'm still hungry after eating four waffles."

"How can you call yourself hungry after eating four waffles? Are _you_ even human?" Another spoonful of pink yogurt entered his mouth. "Go buy your own breakfast if you don't like eating my food."

A light bulb flashed through Hihara's mind. He grabbed Len's arm and dragged him to the front door. "_You _can buy breakfast," He dug in his pockets and gave Len a crumpled piece of paper money. "You can practice outside while you're at it." He threw Len's navy violin case near the door and Len caught it with an added "oomph". Hihara opened the door and pushed Len outside of his house.

"That jerk…," He shivered in his clothes while the snow blew around behind him. He began to feel the after effects of the snow and his hand shook as he reached for the knob. Hihara opened the door for a split second and threw a thick coat and his shoes at him. A click resounded from the door. Len shook the knob again, but it was as clear to him that he was locked out of his own home. The coat flopped on the ground pathetically after it wasn't caught by its owner, who was shaking from the cold. He slowly raised his head to look at the warm body that was in his house, pushing away the thick curtains that covered the windows. The warm body inside pulled up the blinds and wrote something on a piece of paper. He posted it on the window.

"_'Sorry, Tsukimori-kun. I wanted to practice alone and I had to get you outside of the house so you wouldn't be bothered too. You know it's loud, even in the practice room! I'll leave the door unlocked when I'm done. But you should go outside and walk around; enjoy yourself a little! Arigato!_ _P.S._ _Drop some breakfast by my house later. Don't hate me! -__Hihara Kazuki.'"_

The pathetic man that got kicked out of his own home took one lasting look at the warm body that blew his trumpet around the heated house (It was still loud, even with the house's four walls), and hastily snatched his coat off the snowy ground. He laced up his shoes, scolding himself. "If you really wanted me to buy you some breakfast, then why didn't you throw the cars key too," Len grunted and walked away from his house on the stony path. "And I didn't even finish my yogurt yet."

_:-:Back to the Present:-:_

Len wrapped his coat around his body tighter as a cold wind bit by. An idea flashed through his mind. His nearly frozen hand somehow managed to pick up his violin case; his feet led him to the one place where no one would think of going at seven forty in the morning. The sakura garden.

Some how in some way or another, the garden calmed him down a little. It was beautiful, especially in the winter and spring. The way the petals danced downward towards the floor; it was just mystical. Practicing in front of immobile objects was a lot better for him than practicing in front of people. Although it was much easier, he still strived for perfection in every practice and in every performance. He had never let his feelings affect his routine, like Hihara and Ryou. However, he had started to notice something in every performance/contest he attended. The judges always placed him in first place, but he felt something was missing in his music. He knew he had gotten every pitch, note, tempo, and dynamic right. But still, he couldn't quite put a finger on it. Something was missing.

Quietly, he made his way through the ebony iron gates of the garden and picked a clearing. As expected, nobody was in the garden early in the morning, although the gates usually opened at five. That meant no one would hear him play, and he didn't expect anyone to listen. His shoes made dents in the soft snow. The sky above was still grey and dark from the previous snowfall, but it seemed like it was letting up a little. Sakura petals continued to dance and bounce around him. It was the perfect setting to practice where no one could hear him. He set down his violin case in the snow and opened it. The hazel violin gleamed in the sunlight. _I haven't played this since last week, haven't I?_ His mouth curled up.

Carefully lifting his violin like a newborn baby, he reached for the bow, ready to play the song that popped in his mind. Pulling the bow, a light note was played. He closed his eyes, beginning to play groups of notes that sounded like a bird's song. Light and melodic, he began to hum the song in his head. _Yes, just like this. Now it's ti-_

"No!"

A shriek interrupted his thoughts and caught his attention. The bow played one last note before Len's long, slender fingers meticulously placed his violin in its case. _What was that? Who was that?_ The shriek seemed to be nearby. Luckily, he had trained his ears before to listen to his mistakes in his practices, so finding a person yelling wasn't bound to be that hard. The rhythmic pace quickly turned into a dash.His violin case weighed him down as he made bigger dents in the new snow. Everywhere he looked, sakura petals were falling, making it harder to track where he had been, except by his footsteps. _I'm sure it was here somewhere…maybe…here?_ He looked behind the trunk of a tree and found was he was looking for. A person.

A girl actually. She was sprawled on the ground, hair being all over the place, much like fire. Faint breaths of air could be seen and he could tell she was physically weak. A maroon case was next to her and he knew, by the shape and size, that it was a violin case. The case was just like his, except a different color. Her face was scarlet and she looked like she urgently needed a doctor.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He shook her shoulder which was colder than his hand. His knees were on the ground as he leaned in closer to observe her. The redhead slowly opened her eyes and only blinked in response. "We need to get you to the doctor."

An arm held Len's sleeve tightly. Her striking hazel eyes looked at him directly. Although she couldn't say anything, she just shook her head.

"You don't want to go to the hospital?"

She shook her head again.

His hand involuntarily combed through his hair as he tried to think of a solution. What was he going to do with a weak girl that didn't want to go to the hospital or a doctor? _There's only one way. _His eyes glanced at her for a moment. "You really leave me no choice then."

The redhead gave him a questioning look, but she didn't want to ask a stranger what he was going to do. _He seems like a good person... _His vibes seemed good to her as well, so she decided to trust a stranger for the first time. _I'm sick anyway, and I really can't do much. _She just hoped that he wouldn't be perverted like those creeps in the movies. But if he was, then she had an escape plan in mind, ready to strike.

She watched him silently. Len took both violin cases, took the strap from the redhead, and attached it around himself. He snapped both violin cases to it. His honey golden eyes pierced into hers. She stared at him back and wondered what he was going to do. _He's like a gentleman. Not many guys are nice like that. I thought...that guys like that were extinct._ Her head was cocked, wondering.

The redhead didn't feel any better physically, but she was touched by his kindness. _"Who are you?"_ she wondered in her mind. _"Most people would ignore people when they are in need. I mean, what do you want from me?" _She reminded herself to thank him (That is, if he didn't do any thing nasty to her), and leave once she felt better. Suddenly, it seemed like she was lifted from the ground, princess style. Her chocolate eyes traced up to the man. Their faces were so close; she could feel every breath that he took. And then, blood ran up to her cheeks. She had never been carried by another person before. He carried her in his arms, walking out of the fancy garden gates. His destination: his house.

"Damn it, Hihara. Why didn't he throw my car keys at me too? It's a good thing the garden and my apartment are within walking distance," Len complained. The redheaded girl couldn't help but smile a little. "You're light. Did you even eat?" She only nodded silently. Her head was buried into his coat for warmth. It felt like a pillow and she inevitably fell into a deep sleep. But not before saying a muttered "Thank you".

And if the redhead stayed up for 10 seconds, she could've seen Tsukimori blush. For a little while.

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_:-:Len's house; 30 minutes later:-:_

After the long thirty minute walk, Len was shaking everywhere from head to toe. He looked at the redheaded girl, who was sleeping peacefully in his arms. _How is it possible that a weightless girl like her could weigh a hundred pounds later?_ A block of wood prevented the front door from locking itself. He kicked the door open with his toe and laid the fragile girl on the leather couch. Locking the door again, he looked over to the window. The piece of paper Hihara wrote on was still there. Len ripped it in two, pulled down the blinds, and pushed the curtains. He wasn't expecting another visitor, since he already had a surprise visit and he rescued a person. That was enough for him to handle. A sigh blew out of him and he unsnapped the strap that held both cases. He removed his case and set the red one on the coffee table. _Just in case_.

Up the stairs he went. _Is this really okay? What if she steals something?_ He set down the heavy coat on the bed and went downstairs to check on the redhead again. She was still unconscious, as if she entered a long coma. _She barely stayed conscious when I walked home._ He walked over to her, running his hand over her forehead. It felt like her head was about to burn up and explode the entire country of Japan. _Crap._

In a moment's notice, he swiftly carried her to one of his guest rooms. He found a towel hanging on a rack in the spare bath room. After rinsing it thoroughly in hot water, he placed it on the girl's forehead. She was feeling a bit better and her breaths were coming even. He noticed that she still had her worn boots on. _These look like they've been worn since she was 10. _He carefully slid them off her feet with the tips of his fingers. The blanket was pulled up to her chin and Len silently left the room.

Three entire days passed by since Len took in the stranger. It seemed like he was checking up on her ever minute of the day. Although he tried not to worry about it, he was worried. _What if she died here? What if she won't wake up? Should I call a doctor?_ He eventually decided against it, as it was the stranger's wishes. He tried to push away his concerns while he sat in his seat, staring at her.

She returned to her senses again after a long three day coma. Her forehead was lighter, cooler and the towel slid off her forehead as she sat up. Her beloved maroon violin case sat on the ebony nightstand next to the king sized canopy bed. A fresh crystal cut vase of white roses stood on the other one; a plate of onigiri took up some of the space on the nightstand. Her hand automatically picked up an onigiri from the plate, feeling starved. _Delicious. _It was still warm in her mouth. That was one of those moments that made her blissfully happy. She hopped out of the bed and surveyed the luxurious room that was double the size of her old room. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Light blue wall paper was etched into all four of the walls. A bare walk-in closet was carved into the luxurious blue master bathroom. Pushed against one of the wall corners was a pearly white glass desk that held a Mac computer and spare pens and pencils. On the left side of the guest room (It was obvious by the bare walk-in closet) were a set of floor to ceiling windows that were recently cleaned. A set of white French doors that were covered by light white satin curtains were in the middle of it. She pushed aside the curtains to peer at the iced garden. A few fireflies had wandered into it. _It's...amazing._

The spacious room even had a study room and an empty game room (She guessed that it was being renovated for whatever reason) connected to it. _The person that saved me earlier…he must be some kind of rich philantropist. _Her memory was still quite fuzzy from three days ago, but she remembered the person who had saved her. It was that blue haired and golden eyed boy who was almost about her age. He had saved her life. She immediately felt immense guilt.

_Claaaang!_

The sudden noises from the kitchen made her rush to the door to her room and open it just a crack. There was enough space to let her eavesdrop in her savior. She could tell that he was talking on his phone, even though she couldn't see him from her spot at her door. A pan sizzled, oil popped, and a draft of good food blew into her room.

"…haven't tried home cooking in years…red headed girl…been in coma for three days…yeah…bye."

_So, I've been in coma for three days already? I was knocked out for that long? I've been getting worse._

She silently pushed the door shut. The lock on the door clicked softly. Her small, delicate hand reached for a pen and a piece of paper. Writing every word clearly and neatly, she left the piece of paper where the man could see it. She laced up her boots, grabbed her violin case, and headed for the garden. _I'm never going to come back anyway._

The chilly air frosted everything in its path. Yet, everything wasn't frozen. The grass has bits of white ice stuck in it. She wrapped her coat tighter to her body. Numerous stone paths led up to a jet black gazebo. On either sides of it, were flowers greeting their visitor. The redhead leaned in to sniff them; the smell was like perfume. In the distance, she could hear the ripple of the water from the pond. Stars twinkled in the dark heaven above. She lifted her arm up to catch an invisible shard of air. Slow steps broke into a skip towards the gazebo. She opened the glass door and stared in wonder. Wooden furnishings surrounded the inside of the glass gazebo. Chains of candles hung from the ceiling of the gazebo, but they weren't lit. She carefully set her case on a wooden bench. The full moon reflected off of her violin when she opened the case. She lifted the violin with her left hand. Slowly pulling the bow with her right, a note came out. Then, as if by sheer will, her feelings came out with her music. Passion was behind every note.

_He's been so nice. Making food, giving me a place to stay, giving me somewhere to sleep on. All of them were given to a stranger like me. How can I ask for more? I'm already so blessed. This song I'm playing-that guy was playing it to in the park. I wasn't imagining it. It's Ave Maria. Come to think about it…he's much like a-_

"Your position is wrong," a voice interrupted. The violin she was holding played a sour note at the end. Her body turned 360 degrees to look at him. The moonlight reflected off of him, making half of his face white, half of it black. Irritation clearly showed on his face. He held up a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. "Hino Kahoko."

_He's much like a guardian angel._

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_7.08.11 Revised paragraphs and edited. Deleted Dedications, revised Disclaimer._


	2. Firsts

******Me is sorry because there's almost like no humor in here (I love stories with humor in it~!) like my other story. But I love writing this story! I love writing some of the characters :3. Keh, sometimes Fanfiction is just being a bully to meh :(. When I centered my document, it shifted it to the left. AND IT KEEPS DOING THAT! *pulls out fistful of hair* Anyway, I'm going to quit my rambling. Please enjoy!~! xD**

******Song Pick: Complicated by Avril Lavigne**

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**Guardian Angel**

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**La Corda D'Oro Fanfiction**

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**Chapter 2**

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Puffs of steam rose up and out of the coffee cup. They dispersed until they became tiny particles of warm air and disappeared. Kahoko intently looked into the brown liquid. She had never seen anything (or tasted anything for that matter) so rich; staring into the brown liquid was so mesmerizing. It was like coffee, but lighter. Both hands lifted the cup to her face. A drop of hot chocolate dripped into her mouth. Two drops. Three drops. And then, she tried chugging the whole thing down her mouth. The result? Burning her tongue and slamming the mug on the coffee table while drops of hot chocolate flew out everywhere. It had even caught on her red coat, and the noticeable brown stains grew bigger. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth and her hands immediately fanned it. The burning sensation lingered on her tongue, but surprisingly, it felt great. _What kind of drink is this?_ Once again, she looked at her mug which was half full. Her thoughts were filled with fantasies of having more chocolate and even beyond that. Her eyes snapped out of the daze. She couldn't possibly be thinking about the drink now. Mentally reminding herself to snap out of it, she surveyed her surroundings. Her eyes crept up the walls where the silver and white fancy silk curtains hung. They dropped down to the floor where the sleek, elaborate furniture stood. It was hard to believe that she was in the exact place where she wanted to escape from.

Speaking of which, the man simply dragged her into the house by force and that, she didn't like. On a closer view, he wasn't exactly handsome. He was, more like a flower than manly as far as looks concerned. But still, she was sure that he had his fair share of fangirls and girlfriends. She was starting to doubt him.

Len, on the other hand, had been watching every move since the redhead came back in from the chilly night. He stood in the same spot (the kitchen corner to be exact) for quite a while, amazed by the redhead's actions. It was like she loved everything, observed everything, and wondered about everything. Kind of like she had been stuck in a building for her whole life, watching the world pass by. A sudden slam on the coffee table startled him, making him choke on his hot chocolate. He settled his hacking and grimaced. _What the heck is she doing?_ He peeked out from his corner to look at her. Her eyes flowed from the ceiling to the floor. He sighed for a moment.

Gently, he set his cup down on the kitchen counter. His nimble fingers reached into his pockets until the texture of crumbly paper touched his hands. He pulled it out and began to read it for the third time.

_Dear Stranger-san,_

_Thank you for being so nice to me while I was unconscious. I'm sorry that I can't repay you for your kindness because I doubt I'll ever see you ever again. But, thank you anyway. Arigato, Hino Kahoko_

It was also at that moment that he had heard a violin playing in the garden. _Ave Maria…_ The sound wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. It was like a beginner's performance. In some parts, the girl missed the dynamics. Most of the time, she missed some of the notes and even fell a beat behind. _Yup, she's definitely a beginner._ But then, when he opened the delicate doors to the garden to observe, it was different. The closer he got to her, the more he heard how different the sound was. The redhead's sound was different from his. It was the kind of sound that made you _want_ to play along. There were so many things different from his sound, but there was only one important thing he had in mind. Her sound was straightforward, direct, and honest. It was like she was playing out her feelings or something. It was such a simple sound, yet there was so much more.

He snapped out of his thinking and quickly shoved the note back into his pocket and poured another cup of hot chocolate. _No way…_

Soft footsteps alerted Kahoko to snap her head towards Len. He gently set down another cup of hot chocolate and a platter of almond cookies in front of her on the glass table. She stared at him with eyes of wonder and caution, slowly sipping her drink. "Thank you," was all she said before she downed the whole cup of warmed hot chocolate down her throat. "It's so good!" She exclaimed inadvertedly.

"You're going to have to clean up that mess you left," Len replied while he slowly sipped on his drink. Clearly disgusted with her etiquette, but not showing it, he sat his cup down on the glass table. It was so hard for him to believe that he had saved a girl who was so full of wonder. It was like this was the first time that she ever went anywhere. He delicately picked up an almond cookie and ate it thoughtfully.

Kahoko's hazel eyes lifted up over the cup she was drinking. The man across from her didn't seem like he was happy at all. _I knew it…I just should've left, huh? He looks pissed. _So many questions swirled up in her mind; it almost seemed like a tornado rushed in with lots of thoughts that she had to consider. _What do I do now? Does he know anything? _And then a word from the man caught her attention; making those thoughts disappear in a flash.

"You act like you've never had hot chocolate before," He pointed out to her. After all, everyone knew what it tasted like, except her. She flushed.

"Well...from where I lived, I never tried it. But now that I have, it feels warm. Like Christmas, you know?" She smiled earnestly, appreciating his efforts to start a conversation. At most, she felt like they could be friends during her temporary stay. _Riiiiiiiiight, temporary stay... _He spoke again in a monotoned voice.

"So, Hino-san, I assume you don't have a place to stay?"

Her red hair shook earnestly in response.

His honey colored eyes glanced at her for a second. Questions whizzed through his mind. _There are still a lot of things that I don't know about her yet._

A voice came out from the redhead, alerting him.

"Ummm, I don't know it's really okay for me to stay here or not," her face lowered. "But…but please, let me stay here for a bit. I don't really have anywhere to go and you seem like a nice guy so..." She bowed until Len couldn't see her face anymore.

He stared at her for what seemed like a minute, but thoughts ran through his mind a thousand miles per minute. His face scrunched up. _I don't really know if it's a good thing to keep her here. What if she brings trouble?_

"Fine," he sighed as he closed his eyes. "You'll have the room that you were in." _What the heck are you doing? _

Kahoko sat up straight with a beautiful, gleeful smile on her face. "Really? You'd let me stay?"

Len lazily opened one eye to look at her. "You'd rather not?"

The redhead shook her head enthusiastically. "No! No! Thank you very much…uhhh…," she seemed at a loss for words. Her eyes turned to look at him. "Ermmm…what should I call you?"

At this point, Len straightened up from his seat and headed towards the stairs. "Len Tsukimori."

Her face lightened up once more. "Right! Thank you, Len-kun!"

His eyebrow twitched at the sound of his first name. "Don't be so familiar."

Her eyes lowered. "H-Hai. Tsukimori-kun. Ne, ne, Le-," Golden eyes peered at her. "Tsukimori-kun," she ducked her head. "Do I have to pay rent or anything? I-I mean I'm fine with that, I can't cook but I can try…"

The lean man started to head up to the second floor. "You ask too many questions. Just go sleep."

The redhead just watched the man from her seat until she heard a door close. "Yes…," was all her reply. But inside she was thinking, "_That still didn't answer my question!"_

She sighed inwardly. Footsteps from her boots sounded across the tiles. The redhead's hand brushed away the silver silk curtains. Millions of snowflakes daintily danced from the sky, as if they were performing for someone to see. Trying to gain attention, but…abandoned in the end. Kahoko's breath fogged up the window glass as she exhaled. _I…I wonder if I can stay long enough…until it's time for me to go. _She clenched her hand and her forehead tapped against the cold frosted window, closing her eyes in frustration.

_Time…for me to go…_

* * *

The chilly morning had cooled just a bit. The snow hadn't quite melted, but the icicles were dripping. Kahoko had her hair sprawled all over the place. The sun had come up and lit her face, making her open her eyes. _This is totally a dream, isn't it? There's no way I could still be here._ She slapped her face twice and pinched her skin four times.

Len knocked politely on her door. "Breakfast," he said curtly.

Kahoko bounded out of her room and skidded into the kitchen. "So, I thought about it last night and I was wondering how you got this house. Are you some sort of celebrity? I've never seen you before. Last night was like a dream. I still wonder if I'm in it."

_He_ was a "celebrity". A violinist celebrity to be exact. _And_ he was rich. How she hadn't heard of him before was beyond his thoughts. Only a few hundred thousand people knew that he was a renowned violinist. Well, it was better than a million knowing. But a few hundred thousand sounded more than a million.

Eventually, he found the courage to look her in the eye and evaded the question. "You want to know if it's a dream or not?"

Her head nodded eagerly.

"How about kicking you out and never coming back?"

Her expression changed into one of scorn and scratched her head. _Uhh…I wouldn't be able to protest that…_"Ahahahaha! I was kidding! Sooo!" She quickly changed the subject. "What's for breakfast?"

He eyed her with a sense of disgust. "I see a little leecher who's come here eager for breakfast, don't I?" She pouted. "Last night, I didn't state the terms of the whole 'staying over for a while thing'. Now that I cleared my head, I can tell you."

The scratch of his slippers moved over to the dining table. Naturally, Kahoko had to follow to know what it was about. He sat on the edge of the polished glass table, never once looking at a chair to properly sit in. Kahoko pulled out one and sat in it, intently listening to his every word.

"Your conditions are: to improve in your violin playing, clean up the house, learn how to cook, and to be my helper until…you leave I guess." His golden eyes pierced into hers. "Got it?"

"Y-Yes, I got it." She looked at her stomach. _It's like he hired a free slave. Since when did asking about breakfast turn into living conditions? _"By the way…"

He looked at her expectantly.

"…wha…what do I have to help you with?"

Golden eyes looked away from her to the window. Snow piled the trees that he had carefully planted in the spring. Winter…had to do with change and rebirth. Leave something behind to get something new. Reincarnation. The moment in time where everything stands still and you're wondering when you'll ever get the moment to cherish it again. Maybe…it was time for him to change and cherish the moment. A gazed look from her snapped him out of his thinking.

"You'll help me with the minor chores. Like cleaning or something so that you won't be a leech."

She scowled at that term.

"And?"

He glanced at her again.

"…How exactly am I supposed to 'improve my violin skills'? I don't even have a teacher!"

His blue hair swung to the beat of his steps as he walked over to his fridge. _Guess it's sugar free yogurt again._ "That's fairly simple," He turned towards her. "I'll be your new violin teacher then. Be grateful, because you're getting those for free."

She stared at him only in disbelief. Here was this man in front of her telling her that she had to get violin expertise soon. And from him! Besides that point-he ate only strawberry sugar free yogurt in the morning! From the place she came from, disgusting as it might sound, they had even more lavish meals than yogurt. He was even rich! Couldn't he have a more decent breakfast than…yogurt?

"Thanks." She didn't know if she should be grateful or disappointed. "When do lessons start?" She wasn't as eager to the prospect of working with him…but it's a good thing to meet half way. If that was even bearable. This man was already leaving her a point in the negative about him. All commanding and setting conditions.

"Tomorrow," He spooned up a mouthful of sugar free yogurt. "I'm sure that's fine with you."

"Great," She addressed with a straight face.

A rumbling sound came out from Kahoko. Her hands clutched her stomach. "And that reminds me…what's for breakfast again?" She tried her best to grin a cheeky smile at him.

"…I don't have much in my refrigerator. You'll have to buy if you can't cook."

She looked him square in the face. "Why can't you cook?"

"I never said I couldn't cook. Besides, I don't have much in my refrigerator." He eyed her again. Kahoko steadily strode over to the refrigerator and yanked the handle. More than half of it was filled shelf by shelf of sugar-free yogurt. The main cabinets were the usual healthy stuff. Potatoes, celery, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Her face shriveled in disgust. There wasn't even a single, perfectly reserved cinnamon roll in sight.

"Oh, I can see that," Her eyes drifted over to him again. "Got any money? I could go buy you a coffee or something from Starbucks. Umm...but I don't have a car and keys or a license so you'll have to drive me. Because I'm not gonna eat all of that healthy stuff in your fridge. No way."

"I'm pretty sure I can brew my own coffee. I've never needed to go to…uh…Starbucks, wherever that is." Which was partially true. Ryou bought him the coffee pot for his new house and Azuma brought him coffee beans from Starbucks. All of his life, he had only bought coffee beans from high society businesses. After all, his parents appreciated the joy of coffee beans as well. But Starbucks coffee beans were different. Ever since he got a whiff of it, he kept sending Azuma back to Starbucks to buy more. Len probably had fifteen bags left that were still needed to be used in the pantry closet. They were like his guilty pleasure.

"Are you serious?" By now, Kahoko found the keys to the car. "Then we need to go. Now! Because I'm kinda hungry and…yeah."

"I really wonder who's the boss of this house," Len replied with a sigh. "I need to change and finish my yogurt. Wait here in the living room." She nodded eagerly and plainly excited.

Once he was out of sight, she looked at her clothes. _…This is the only set of clothes I have from that place. A red trench coat, a blouse and skinny jeans with suede boots. _She lifted her arm up to her nose. A faint stench reached her nose and she quickly pulled back with a face. _Man, I really need a bath and new clothes…_She sighed.

She looked down the long dark hall. It seemed like there were windows on the door. Much like the ones that were like the school doors. Her suede boots carried her to the first room. A practice room, she assumed. They had a lot of those from where she learned how to play violin.

A silver metallic door shielded the room and only a small floor to ceiling window was etched into the right side of the door. From what she could see in the window, it seemed like there was a stand. A music stand. On the opposite side of the stand was a comfy looking couch, like the ones in the living room, except a bit shorter. Her hands pushed open the silver door knob.

Inside was a different story. The whole room was tiled with carpet. Even the walls were plastered in carpet. It was quite spacious inside. Enough room to even fit a piano and an audience of a few people. It was hard to understand that he had his house tailor made to even fit a few practice rooms. _After all, he's a violin teacher AND he's rich, right? Since he offered to teach me violin…_

She stood facing the audience and the stand. Picking up an imaginary violin, she began to air play a piece she knew by heart. Her eyes slowly began to drop as she began to play more air notes. An imaginary audience appeared before her on the couch. _Mom…_

"Oi," The sudden low voice of a man alerted her senses. She immediately dropped her arms and imaginary violin by her side. It wasn't until she opened her eyelids that she noticed. For the first time since her arrival at the grand and spacious house, her eyes got blurry and hazy. Teardrops dropped from the gravity below.

Len didn't know what to do. He never encountered a situation like this before. A crying girl could make any man nervous and frantic. His cautious footsteps inched closer to her until he broke the pace and strode towards her. He stopped just inches away from her. His hands anxiously reached into his pockets until he found a tissue for her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" She smiled at him half heartedly. Her nose and the outline of her eyes were a stuffy, fevery red color. She gladly took the tissue from him, thinking to herself that she was okay. He wasn't oblivious, and it was pretty obvious to him that she wasn't stable.

"You're not," he replied. _I mean even a blind man can tell since you're crying._"That's the number one lie that women use."

"Really! I'm okay. I just need to compose myself for a bit." She hurriedly swiped the piece of tissue to her eyes. "Are we still going to Starbucks? I know the place."

"Yeah...sure."

* * *

On the car ride there, Kahoko mostly stared out of the window, afraid to let the person driving know that she was going to burst if he looked at her again.

He could sense that. And there commenced the ten minute ride in awkward silence. Well, that is, until Len popped one of his CDs into the CD player. A string of melody and harmony of piano streamed out from the stereo.

"Oh! It's Moonlight! You bought one of Yiruma's CD's?" She stared at him in amazement.

"Yes," He grinned just a bit and it made her smile because he rarely smiled. "Ryou introduced me to him, or one of his songs. I listened to some more songs and bought the CD."

"Ryou?" A questioning look came from the wondering redhead.

"It's a nickname that everyone called him in high school. He's a piano player in his free time. So that's why he knows this piano stuff. He has a girlfriend too. Pretty annoying guy; he gets on my nerves. He still hangs around my house sometimes for…stuff, like annoying me," Len scrunched his face. "It won't be pretty when you see him."

"Is that so?" She looked out the window again, intent on finding the nearest Starbucks. "He must be pretty interesting. Oh, here it is!"

They entered and Len noticed that it was like a cozy bookstore, with people of all ages lounging around. Pastries and a distinct coffee scent evaporated into their noses. In the mornings, there was a long line; the people in it expected a caffiene rush to keep them awake. Office ladies taking calls from their boss, retired elderly men waiting for something to keep their day from passing by, middle aged men talking about sports and whatnot. And a pair of youngsters standing next to each other.

"Ahhh! Don't you just love the smell of fresh pastries and coffee in the morning? It just lifts your spirit!" Kahoko spoke, waving away the awkwardness.

"I don't think I've smelled my house before, but I think it smells a tad better than this," He said it with a straight face.

"I think Starbucks smells better than your house," She rolled her eyes. "100% sure." The line moved a spot up, making them order.

"I've never been here. Order for me." Len declared.

The man behind the cashier just dropped his jaw, as well as the eavesdropping young infatuated office ladies.

"Sorry, my friend is just like that, making jokes," Kahoko nervously laughed. She looked toward the man with the golden eyes and he scowled. "I'll decide for you then. A caramel and a café vanilla frappucino. Both are ventis. Oh! And…," She grabbed four packs of Madeleine's. "These and two iced lemon cake slices please."

"Okay, thanks," The man behind the cashier cautiously look toward the man behind the redhead. "$16.67, please."

Her hazel eyes expectantly looked toward the man behind her, wagging her fingers. Len, exasperated, pulled out a 20 dollar bill. "Don't you have any money?"

As she paid the cashier, handed Len back the change and receipt, and rounded up the pastries, she added her comment. "I do…does $5.34 count as money to you?"

"You're broke, aren't you?" He couldn't help thinking about the strange girl's past. What was she like, really?

"If you want to put it like that, then yes," She chose a table near the store window. Passerbys walked briskly to and fro, minding their own business. Her nimble fingers opened a pack of Madeleine's and popped one into her mouth. "Delicious!" She savored the flavor as she entered her fantasy land. "What do you think of Starbucks?"

"It's expensive. All I ever heard of were _cappuccinos_ not _frappucinos._ Is it like frozen cappuccinos, like the way frozen yogurt looks like ice cream?" He questioned her.

"You really haven't heard of Starbucks have you?"

"No, I haven't. This is my first time, I told you already."

"Here," She shoved a pack of neatly wrapped Madeleine's toward him. "I'm pretty sure you've tasted a Madeleine, right? They're really good."

"Venti Caramel and Café Vanilla Frappuncino!"

"Taste that! It's good! I'll go get our drinks."

Len hesitantly picked up a Madeleine. It was true. He had tasted a Madeleine before, but he hadn't tried one in several years. Reluctantly, he picked a piece off the Madeleine and popped it in his mouth.

Words couldn't even describe what it tasted like.

Moist, soft, buttery. Hard at the edges, yet soft on the inside. Perfectly baked and indescribably delectable.

"How do you like it? Good isn't it?" She returned and set a cold coffee like drink with icing filled to the top in front of him.

"That's an understatement."

She giggled happily for the first time since her arrival. "That's a great thing! You should come here more often then!" She took a piece off of his Madeleine. "It's a good thing I bought four packs, although they are quite expensive. You should make some sometime. Taste the frappucino! It's the leading attraction of the place."

Len (again) hesitantly sipped the green straw of his drink. But he noticed it wasn't as bitter as the coffee that he was used to having and it had…an addictive quality to it. He actually began drinking it after the first sip.

Kahoko began to smile honestly at him. "You like it, don't you?"

He just eyed her with that look that stated, "Don't-rub-it-in-my-face-I-know".

"Tsukimori-san?" A groggy blond curly haired and blue eyed man wondered aloud.

Len turned his head to spot a couple he met in high school. A man with angel-like features came towards them, hand in hand with a woman with short teal hair.

"Fuyuumi-san! Shimizu-san! What are you guys doing here?"

This time, the woman spoke. "I dragged Shimizu here for some caffeine. You know how he is."

Len quickly dragged two seats toward their table, inviting them to sit. "Yeah, he usually slept in class a lot. You really do love your cello."

"Len," The man slowly spoke. "You haven't introduced your guest yet."

"Oh right," He gestured toward Kahoko, making her stand up. "This is Kahoko Hino. She's a temporary guest in my house."

Kahoko held out her hand towards Len's friends and shook it. "It's nice to meet you."

The woman sweetly smiled. "I'm Fuyuumi Shoko. This guy here…," She gestured toward him with her left hand. "…is my husband Shimizu Keiichi."

Kahoko also shook his hand. _They seem really polite._

"Len-san," Shimizu lifted his coffee cup. "Why are you here? I would've thought you'd be drinking coffee at home instead of Starbucks."

"Ah, yeah. It's my first time here," He eyed her out of the corner of his eye. "I haven't seen you guys since Azuma's big party. Since the charity concert was announced, I haven't been practicing much since Kanayan told us."

"Yes. It's such a surprise that Len doesn't practice, doesn't it Shimizu?" Fuyuumi sipped her coffee, amusement in her eyes. Len was usually a nonstop hard worker.

Ignoring her previous comment, Len asked another question. "Where and what time?"

"Next Saturday. It's at Azuma's concert hall that he recently built. He wants to show off or something, I guess," Shimizu replied.

Kahoko absent mindedly took small sips from her café vanilla frappucino. _Gosh, this is_ _awkward. But…they're having a concert? Tsukimori-san really plays the violin? I want to see it!_

"Okay, enough of this. I'm sure Miss Hino would be bored with this talk," Fuyuumi took another huge sip out of her green tea frappucino. Kahoko lifted her head quickly, like a deer in headlights. "How'd you become Len's temporary guest? As far as I know, he's never had a girl stay in his house."

"Oh, is that so?" Kahoko glanced at the golden eyes for a moment. "Really, all I needed was a place to stay for a while and he was nice enough to let me stay. Are you guys having a concert soon? I really want to see it!"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure Len would be glad to bring you." The sleepy angel haired guy replied. "Won't you Len?"

"Yeah, I'll bring you there," Len looked directly at her. Again, he hesitantly took a small sip out of his caramel frappucino and then took long sips. "How're you guys? I heard a present was coming up on your doorstep."

Shimizu and Fuyuumi simply glanced at each other, looked away, then blushed. "I just found out a month ago. How'd you find out Len?" Fuyuumi curiously asked.

"News travels fast when you tell Hihara," Len simply replied.

"What did he mean by a 'present'?" Kahoko asked Fuyuumi, tilting her head. Fuyuumi simply blushed.

Shimizu reached out his hand across his wife's stomach. "I want to teach him how to play the cello," he said, therefore answering Kahoko's question indirectly. Her mouth opened in surprise. "Oh! Congratulations!"

"Ahaha," Fuyuumi nervously laughed. "It's the first one. I'm just as excited as he is." Her hand intertwined with her husband's over her stomach. Their wedding rings shone in the warm winter sunlight. Both had a small heart shaped diamond encrusted within a silver band.

"Wow! Those are really pretty wedding rings!" Kahoko eagerly leaned forward. "I wish my wedding ring was like that!"

"I don't doubt that it'll be soon," Shimizu looked directly at Len, who in turn, looked away. "We're both younger than Len and he hasn't even had a girlfriend yet."

Kahoko gazed at him with curious eyes. _He doesn't…have a girlfriend? Isn't that impossible? He's got the looks, he's rich, he's kind, and he's smart. What more can a girl ask for? Well, except for his jerk like qualities. That, I understand._

"You just got lucky," Len nonchalantly replied. "Don't you have to go home and eat your onigri or something Shimizu?"

"Oh…that's right. Fuyuumi, I haven't had breakfast yet and I feel kinda sleepy. Shall we go?"

"Sure," She smiled hugely at her husband. "Sorry Len. I'll see you at Azuma's concert hall?"

"Definitely." He nodded curtly, substituting it for a wave.

The redhead quickly used the opportunity to ask Len a question. "You never told me anything about a concert," Kahoko silently sipped her drink.

"You never asked," was his quick reply. He quickly finished his frappucino and threw it in the trash. "But you're coming."

"What? I thought it was being polite that you said yes!" Kahoko cried in bewilderment. She swiftly followed Len's movements, grabbing the leftover food in the process. "B-But I'm broke," She flustered. "I don't have a job a-and you can't be my ATM. I'm already blessed to have a roof to live under and food to eat. You can't buy me a dress. You just can't!" By then, they were in the parking lot and she shouted so loud that she caught rushing people's attention.

Len casually plugged his keys into his car and unlocked it. "I never said I would buy you a dress. I have an old wardrobe at home and it has a lot of girls' stuff in it, so you can pick from that." He looked at her from the front seat and shut the door. "Coming or not?"

_What is this guy? A pervert? Transvestite? Why does he have girls' clothes in his wardrobe?_

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Kahoko slipped into the passenger's seat and quietly slammed the car door. "Oi, Tsukimori-san."

"What?"

"Did you like the frappucino? You finished it pretty fast," She lifted up her nearly empty cup. "I still have some of mine."

Len went silent for a moment. She quickly dropped the subject matter and stayed quiet. The new snow lightly drifted against the windshield of the car, like feathers. Her breath fogged up the window glass. Kahoko traced her name into the fog with her finger. He abruptly spoke again after a few silent moments.

"It was…good."

* * *

_7.08.11 Revised Beginning notes and removed end note._


	3. Greetings

**Hey, hey, hey! I got done writing this chapter like three weeks ago, but I never got around posting it (Sorry, my lazy genes and maybe procrastination too.) I think my writers block is inching into me again because I've been reading Final Fantasy X fanfics and blowing off my thesis statement assignment. So anyway! For my late-ness, the next chapter will be roughly about 8,000-9,000 words long for those of you who loooove long chapters (Haha! A record for me! 13 pages!) because of all the good stuff in the next chapter (MUAHAHAHAHA!). So enjoy! xD **

******Song Pick: When You Say Nothing at All by Alison Krauss**

* * *

**Guardian Angel**

* * *

**A La Corda D'Oro Fanfiction**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Since the day they went to Starbucks, Len had been effortlessly trying to teach Kahoko how to play the violin right. And how did that turn out? Simply horrible. Of course, he practiced on his piece for the concert, but he had also promised her he would help her too (It was more like a condition). And well…a Tsukimori never broke a promise. They were in one of his practice rooms everyday (Though Kahoko found it weird. _Didn't he need to earn money by doing some kind of job?_) until something broke their usual routine. Kahoko had reached the end of a song until she cut it off early.

"You're supposed to hold this note out a bit longer, not cut off!" He chided her.

"I'm sorry!" She bowed and she was secretly panicking inside. She had never encountered a strict violin teacher (Just the polite ones) in her 19 years of life, and he was the first. Which tempted her to ask him…

"How old are you again?" She looked at him curiously. He couldn't possibly be that old. He owned a house too! The said man was scratching his head in frustration of his novice student before he answered her question.

"22," He simply said. She looked at him with wide eyes and mouth open. He was only _22_ AND he had a rich house AND was an expert in violin? He saw that and asked the most obvious follow up question. "What?"

"I'm just surprised because you're rich and you own a tailor made house! I mean, you were the only one living in this huge house before I arrived! You're only one guy! You must've had some kind of get rich scheme."

He looked at her with one eyebrow cocked. "The way you can get rich is by working hard," He nudged her to look at her violin. "In your case, that means-work harder!" He hit her lightly with his violin bow.

"Okay! Okay!" She cracked a smile. "How about we take a break?"

He sighed and reluctantly nodded. She was so happy she ran out the door to turn on the TV.

And two screams could be heard in perfect harmony, echoing off the walls.

* * *

"Really, Ryou?" Len crossed his legs and arms. "I thought you knew better than sneaking into my house and trying to scare me. And how the hell did you get the key to my house? I never gave it to you."

"I was so sure to have a fail proof plan!" He sat on the sleek black couch opposite of Len and Kahoko. A sleek black coat covered his dark green shirt which complimented his short dark green hair. He looked like he stepped off of a modeling magazine and into real life. "But this lady right here…," He looked toward Kahoko, who nervously laughed. "…ruined my plan! I had Kazuki copy your house key that he stole last time he visited." A small silver house key hung by a white thread on his left index finger. "But I think I'm going to keep this one." He firmly stuck it into his right pocket and left Len gritting his teeth.

Kahoko laughed nervously. "Ermm…I'm sorry…uhh…"

"Ryou. Just call me Ryou." He grinned. Len caught that look and they exchanged glances.

"Ryou!" She beamed cheerfully, now that she got his name. "I'm sorry Ryou!"

"No problem," He leaned forward in his seat. "And your name is?"

"Kahoko Hino!" She replied eagerly.

"Kahoko, eh?" He smiled. "I should call you Kaho then!"

She laughed at him. "That's a nice nickname!"

"So Kaho," She looked at him in curiosity, with her side cocked sideways. He looked at her seductively. "When are you fr-"

"Ryou," Len nonchalantly warned.

Ryou leaned back on the couch with his arms in the back of his head. "Chiiilll man chiilll. You should've told me she was your girlfriend or something before I said anything. I was just kidding."

Kahoko automatically put her hands up. "We're not dating!" They replied at the same time. They glanced at each other for a second before turning away. She panicked. There was no way that she could date a pretty rich boy. And a strict violin prodigy at that too.

"Oh," He had an amused expression. "You're not dating anyone? But you're pretty!"

"Ryou," Len rolled his eyes. "She's a guest."

"Guest or not, that was still a compliment," He mock rolled his eyes at Len, who turned his head the other way.

"Well…thank you," Kahoko's cheeks tinted pink. "I've heard about you from Tsukimori-san."

"Oh, is that so?" He looked toward Len with another quirky smirk. "Betcha he probably said a lot of bad things about me, didn't he?"

Kahoko thought for a minute before answering. "I think he said something like you were annoying and stuff like that."

"That right Len?" He walked across the room in three strides (Kahoko noticed that he was really tall and humongous. Big enough to kill two people at the same time) before declaring, "Prepare to die!" And he looked like he was going to do it too. Len didn't do anything, but sigh. Kahoko quickly shut and covered her eyes when he punched the couch and it sent vibrations through her.

1…2…3…

Kahoko opened a small space between her hands to see what was going on; there was only a _scritch-scratching_ movement. After she was relieved nothing had _really _happened she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around it. "Do you guys do that all of the time?" She asked, clearly amused.

It turned out that Ryou had only given Len a noogie. He had him in a firm grip under his left arm and his right hand was balled up into a fist and rubbing Len's head. The scritch-scratching sound must have been Len's cuticles dying. Len, to no avail, had tried to get his head out of his grip. "You should avoid…this man…at all times Hino-san," Len said, taking deep breaths in between his struggle. "He's dangerous."

"O-okay," She replied. She wanted to help, but it was clear to her that it was a mere boys' fight. "Did you want to drink something Ryou?"

"Sure! A cup of cold water I guess," He said smoothly. His voice didn't even hesitate for a second while he was wrestling with Len.

A few moments later, the two men were seen calmly sitting face to face when Kahoko brought Ryou his glass of water. She gently set the glass of water on the glass table. Len was readjusting his hair and Kahoko sat on the other end of his couch. It was Ryou who broke the silence first. "So, Kaho, what's the relationship between you guys?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Len, never really lets girls stay for a long amount of time unless it's a party or something. And that hasn't happened in his life, except when his mom came to stay and check up on him." He laughed at the memory of it. Len gritted his teeth.

"Ryou! She's just a temporary guest! Nothing more!"

"Awww," Ryou leaned forward with another devilish smirk. "It's alright to admit that you want her to yourself."

Kahoko quickly shot a confused glance at Len, who took it as a signal to change the subject.

"Ryou! What exactly did you come here for? I'm sure your mission wasn't to come here and make fun of me," Len huffed. Ryou knew from a glance but he still spoke on the topic change.

"Man, Len, sometimes, you're too much of a smartass. Do you know that or do I have to repeat it again?" Ryou snided at Len. Kahoko was rather amused at the two's bickering. They were like polar opposites, but they were friends too. Tsukimori was more of the reserved and quiet refined prodigy and Ryou was the hyper and energetic modern guy. Nevertheless, he still answered Len's question.

"I'm sure Kazuki and a lot of other people told you that the charity concert was going to be at Azuma's concert hall, right?"

Len simply nodded. "What's your point?"

"Everyone's going to be there. We need as many people as possible to come because the charity donations are done by head count first and then there's an auction and a dance afterwards. Of course, there are snacks and drinks too so you won't get hungry," He looked at Kahoko. "You're surely going to invite Kahoko, right? After all, you are the main money attraction for the charity. You need to have someone in your arms so that other girls will come and be jealous."

"I'm not-!"

"Yeah, she's going," He interrupted her before she could say anything further. She looked at the deep blue haired man with a look of confusion. Although she had stayed with him for almost two weeks, she still didn't get used to the strange reserved man's habits. She had to say something.

"If you don't mind me asking," Her sudden outburst caught the attention of both men. "How much is attendance?"

Ryou hesitated for a brief moment before answering. "I think it's $350 per head." Her mouth was open wide. _$350?_ What kind of ball was it? She barely had enough money to take care of herself, let alone go to a fancy formal ball.

Ryou caught her look of surprise. "But don't worry!" He had a huge grin. "You're Len's guest, so I'm pretty sure he's going to pay for it. Right Len? It'd be rude if you had poor Kaho-chan to pay."

Len closed his eyes to concentrate. "I'm paying for her."

"You shouldn't! I-I don't have any dresses or anything and I'm already in debt to you. I'm fine housekeeping alone! Really!" Kahoko panicked and hung her head in front of Len. Here was the savior who practically saved her life and she was living under him too. How could she ask him to buy her anything? She was already in debt too much.

"I'm really okay with it, Hino-san," He paused before answering again. "You should socialize more too."

"And this is coming out of the mouth of the reserved pretty boy who doesn't make a lot of friends!" Ryou added in his comment. "I see how it is. And Kaho, you should really go. It's going to be fun," He smiled again. "From the looks of it, it looks like Kaho doesn't have a dress," He looked expectantly at Len. "You still have Shonoko's clothes, right?"

He nodded his head, leaving Kahoko wondering who exactly Shonoko was. A twin sister? His mom? Aunt? Ex-girlfriend? Another random girl? Who was it? Ryou spoke again. "That's good. I thought you would've thrown it away already. She hasn't come back in years since I last saw her." He looked at her once more. "Sorry Kaho. You're probably confused so I'll shut my mouth now."

"Good," Len replied. "Make it last."

"How about inviting your parents to the ball?" Ryou gleefully and automatically answered to his previous comment.

"Well, it was good measure of peace while it lasted," Len said with a hint of frustration. "They won't be coming. They're in the middle of a world tour right now."

"Aww…that's sad. I'm quite a fan of your mother," Ryou pouted. He glanced toward his Rolex watch. "Oh! I'm so sorry Len, I need to go. Don't be sad; we'll have another rendezvous soon. I'll see you later!" He strode towards the door, and in mid-step his cell phone rang. He picked it up on the second ring and continued to walk outside and shut the door. She ran up to the front door and quickly locked it in place.

"Ryou is...awfully friendly," Kahoko wondered aloud.

"…That's his downside. He can't really say no. I can't see what Miyabi sees in him."

"But from the looks of it," She settled on the opposite couch of Len, where Ryou's presence was still warm. "Ryou made it sound like your parents were famous too. Do I know them?"

"...My mom is Misa Hamai. Do you know her?"

Kahoko had her mouth open wide. THE Misa Hamai's son was the very man in front of her? She couldn't believe it. "You're not lying to me, right? I've heard of her in a magazine article, and I've only heard a recording of her play piano, but she's really good! She's one of the 'Most Earned Japanese People of 2010'! The article did mention that she had a son with 'acclaimed honors and recognitions', but I never knew it was you!" She gawked at him in amazement.

"Yeah," He said, uncertain to take pride in it or not. "That's me..."

She stood up from her seat to explore the garden and casually said under her breath, "I'm getting surrounded by rich people every day."

Even though she muttered it, he had still heard it and rolled his eyes, turning on the TV.

* * *

_:-:The Night Before the Ball:-:_

Len led her up the modern stairs of his house. "Since you're going to need formal dancing attire AND dancing experience at the ball," He looked back at her. "I might as well teach you." At last, they reached the top of the stairs. Her usually unkempt hair was tied back in a white scrunchy and she was wearing a rather comfortable light blue terry cloth tracksuit.

"No! Really, I'm okay! Since I've never done formal dancing AND I can't afford to buy myself in, I might as well stay at home and housekeep for you while you enjoy yourself," She smiled grandly at him. "So you don't need to do it. I'm already thankful enough that you decided to let me stay for a while."

He scrunched a face at her. _That was an extremely lonely big smile._ "If you can't dance, I'll teach you," He looked above her head. "Yeah. As long as you memorize the steps and everything, that's fine. And you don't need to buy a dress; I have one up here somewhere. And as your savior, I insist on your attendance. This neighborhood can get dangerous at night and if you stay home alone, I'm afraid the next time I see you, you'd be dead. Then I'd be in a greater debt _to you._"

She sighed. Sometimes, rich people were just _too_ smart. She only muttered, "Fine." and observed her surroundings. Even if she'd stayed there for a while, she had never been up the second floor before. She always thought that it was "Restricted access" because Tsukimori had his room up there. Four rooms in total covered the second floor (She figured that one of them had to be his room and the bathroom, obviously, but she didn't get what the other two were for) and about less than three fourth of the living room's space was on the second floor. The floor was furnished and polished with reflecting wooden tiles. Floor to ceiling windows and a set of French window doors were etched into the right side of his entire wall with sets of silver silk curtains hanging at the sides. Behind the window doors, there was a white painted balcony. The night sky clearly shone through the windows.

ANOTHER huge plasma screen TV covered a wall and there were game consoles and games stacked neatly on top of each other. _It must be the main game room up here. _Len had told her that the game room downstairs was being remodeled to fit another guest room. She could identify the Wii, the new Xbox 360 Slim, a PS3, a PS2, a PSP, and a DSi charging on the TV self. She read various video game titles as well: Resident Evil 5, the entire Final Fantasy video game series, Sims collection, all of the Legend of Zelda games, a set of Pokémon games (She raised her eyebrows in amusement), the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise, DJ Hero, and many other games. He even had four sets of controllers for every video game platform he owned. A bunch of colorful beanbags and chairs circled around the plasma TV. There was even a brown L shaped couch behind the beanbags. In the right hand corner, there was yet ANOTHER set of stairs. _Just how rich IS he? _She was starting to get a major headache.

"Hey," Her voice caught his attention, making him turn towards her with a look. "You've got all of the entire Final Fantasy series?" She raised her eyebrow in amusement.

"Oh that?" His golden eye flickered across the room, where he kept his games. "Yeah. The earlier ones I don't really play. I finished all the ones starting from number seven. I was getting kinda bored with one through six. Funny, if I sold them, they're worth a lot."

"No kidding! I never thought that you would be the video game type of person. I can't believe you even finished those." A perfectly arched eyebrow was shot at him while he leaned against the wall opposite of her. Her footsteps inched toward the games, touching the edge of the covers. "Out of all of them, I REALLY like Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X. They're such a romantic video game couple! That scene in the glimmering pool and pyreflies was SO cute! I seriously wanted Seymour dead because of what he did, huh, it's ironic but he was already dead from the beginning of the game anyway. It's my favorite maybe because of the nicely designed characters. But then again, I like number seven, eight, ten, the sequel to that, and the newest one! I love all of them, maybe because Tetsuya Nomura designed the characters. But that Advent Children movie was totally cool too!" She radiated a little child-like beam.

"Yes, apperances just don't meet the eye, do they?" He looked away from her. "I saw that. I was seriously going to skip that scene, but Shonoko wanted to watch it. Figures, I was going downstairs to get something to eat when that happened." He glanced at her and gave a slight grin.

She cocked her head to look at him. _Who is this Shonoko girl everyone's talking about? This is really getting on my nerves._ She was lost in a train of thought before his velvety voice alerted her into reality again.

"Hino-san?" The voice echoed from the man across the second floor living room. He waved his hand. "Come here for a second." Then, he disappeared into a room. She walked slowly across, just in case he was planning to scare her. Instead, he was in a room full of boxes that were labeled in neat print. She read labels such as: Shirts, Tanks, Pants, Cargo Pants, Skirts, Capri's, Gauchos, Jeans, Shoes, Socks, Scarves, Earrings, Hair Accessories, Stuffed Animals, Miscellaneous, etc.

"What's this?" She asked in amazement. Kahoko never saw a room in his house that was full of boxes. There were also full length windows in this room, but they were covered by window sills and purple and silver silk curtains. She began to walk around and sidestep random boxes that were in the way. Her hand opened one door, and it revealed a huge bathroom with an even more humongous bath tub and a huge mirror on the other side that stretched from left to right. Behind the bathtub were mere decorations and another window that was covered by wooden window sills. The interior was painted with white, silver, and gold, giving it a royal aura. Her hand shook in amazement and closed the door. She danced to the other door on the other side of the room and opened it. Inside, was a grand walk in closet. It was painted in more modern rainbow colors, like red, silver, blue, purple, and green. It would've been pretty, except there was nothing hanging on the clothes hangers. On the end, opposite of the door, there was a full length mirror, outlined in silver. "Oh my god! This room is amazing!" She shut the door behind her and leaned on a wall, watching the man in the middle.

"Oh…it's an old room of my partner's that used to work with me," He stumbled on his words a bit, making Kahoko curious. Partner? Was it the Shonoko girl Ryou was talking about? Were the clothes that he gave her earlier…worn by Shonoko as well? She was suddenly getting sick. _You're just jumping to conclusions!_ She mentally slapped herself on the forehead.

He rummaged through the boxes, looking for the right label. "These clothes that she left behind were never worn by her though," He picked up a deep navy blue shirt and tossed it to her. "They still have the price tag on them too. It'd be a waste if they were just sitting here collecting dust and waiting to be admired. If you want them, you can wear them." He looked at her again and caught a blank expression on her face. "What? You don't like it?"

She automatically snapped out of it. "Oh…uh no! I think it's pretty. I was just wondering if the clothes that you gave me earlier were from here too."

"Ahh yes, I didn't know what size you were and you always wore that coat so I'd figure that I'd give you some clothes from here," He stood up from where he was sitting and put his hands on his hips. "I didn't know it would fit you though. Well, if you're worried about getting them dirty, those clothes are all brand new. My partner," He paused again and it seemed like he was looking for something. "Left a lot of new clothes. She was a spendthrift and then she left without a trace. It seems like she won't be coming back, so I'll go ahead and give them to you."

"Oh," She sat cross legged on top of a box that was labeled 'Tanks'. "She seems important to you." If she was going to ask him about it, it'd be better to ask one question at a time instead of going all out.

He paused for a minute before cracking a little smile. Then he continued to rummage through the boxes. "You sure are being curious today," He glanced at her before continuing to search. "We used to work together on a lot of projects. We also graduated from the same college too. But then she left everything here and disappeared," He gave her a nagging look. "If you have so much free time sitting over there, why don't you help me find a box that's labeled 'Dresses'." It sounded more like a command than an option. She hopped from the box and helped him rummage through the boxes.

"So, you didn't try to look for her?"

"No…If she wanted to leave, that was her option."

She still didn't get it. "But…if she was important to you, why didn't you chase her back?"

"I…just felt that she didn't want to be chased anymore," Kahoko looked back at him with her brown eyes. He had such a sad expression; she decided not to ask anymore.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the words "Dresses". She eagerly signaled to Len. "I found it Tsukimori-kun!" She opened the box while he walked to her with boxes labeled "Heels", "Hair Accessories", and "Makeup". Inside the box, colorful dresses were stuffed neatly in it. Red, blue, orange, yellow, pink, green, purple, silver, gold, and maroon all popped out to her. "Wow," Her breath was taken away as she held a deep midnight blue strapless formal-party like dress up to her chest. It sparkled in the light and flew all the way to her knees. "It's beautiful."

"Carry that box over here to the bathroom."

She did just as he asked and he set the three boxes on the floor and started unpacking them on the bathroom counter. She stared in amazement and her jaw dropped. "You're telling me that all of these things are new?" She picked up a new silver and gold curling iron and ran her fingers along the edges. Yep. Clean and new.

"Here," He unpacked the last box. "Do what you want with it. I know you're going to take a long time to dress up and do all of that, so take your time," He looked at her with his warming golden eyes. "You know how to use all of this stuff, right?"

She nodded in amazement of the variety of heels, makeup, and dresses.

"Good," He sighed in relief. He wasn't exactly used to the dress up process. "Dance lessons for you are downstairs in the living room once you're done with…that." He looked at her, nodded, and disappeared in a flash.

She scratched her head and let out a sigh. "These people."

* * *

_:-:2 Hours Later:-:_

Len had gotten pretty bored waiting for the redhead to come down. He pushed the two couches over to make space and carefully dragged the crystal glass table over to the side. He had gotten so bored waiting for the redhead, he turned on the TV and tried to watch a TV show. But that plan failed because within minutes, he was already sleeping on the comfortable couch.

Two hours later, Kahoko carefully stepped down the stairs in her slippers, saving the heels for later_._ She was dressed in the sparkly strapless midnight blue knee length dress that she found in the box. Of course, she had a hard time deciding what to wear. A bright and sunny yellow sundress was her second choice, but she decided it wasn't formal enough. Then she had a slightly hard time applying on the mascara and eye shadow, but there wasn't anything that she couldn't fix. She selected a sparkly deep blue eye shadow that matched her dress. But the hardest part was (For her anyway) styling hair. Her red hair was always something that wasn't quite manageable. It took her most of the time to curl the tips of her hair and tie it back with a blue and white ribbon. She left her bangs and a few wisps of hair out of her ponytail. And of course, the easiest part was choosing the accessories. She chose hoop earrings that had white feathers attached to them and a simple tiny silver shoe as a necklace. Glossy and shiny pink lip gloss was applied over her lips, giving it the final and perfect touch. Her mind was deliberating on whether or not she should apply perfume, but eventually objected to it. _It's only a practice dance._

At last, she reached the bottom of the stairs. She was about to call his name when she noticed him sleeping on the couch. Her hand reached for the remote and quietly turned the TV off. "I guess you were really bored, huh?" Kahoko kneeled in front of the sleeping man and she almost chuckled. She had the sudden urge to put makeup on his face, but then thought better of it. _It is his house...I don't want to be punished to more violin lessons than I already have._ Her heels click clacked to the guest room where she pulled her blanket and pillow off of her bed. _He looks cold anyway._

She threw the blanket at him and tried to stuff the pillow under his head. She was at eye level with his face and suddenly felt embarrassed. _What am I doing? I'm like some crazy stalker! _But then, she couldn't help it. It felt like an invisible magnet was pulling them close, but Kahoko tried to resist. She planned to walk away softly from him and to let him sleep. Plan: Failed. Because he slowly opened his eyes to look at her. "What are you doing?" She felt her body tighten.

"O-oh…uh you were sleeping so I tried to drape a blanket on you," She tugged on the blanket nervously. "But you woke up, so that didn't work. Sorry for waking you up." He shook his head and sat on the couch.

"No," He shook away the traces of sleep on his face. "I should be the one apologizing. After all, I was the one who promised to teach you how to dance and then I slept. So…sorry." Kahoko didn't know what to say at that juncture but stand there and hold on to the hem of her dress. But at the same moment, Len immediately noticed how…pretty she looked. He hated to admit it, but since he never really paid attention to girls. The sparkly dark blue dress was noticeable against her almost pale tan skin. The eye shadow matched her dress too. Her hair was perfect. Even the loose wisps of hair added to the effect. She shifted from one foot to the other on her high heels, clearly noting to him that she was nervous. He stood up and straightened his hair while walking towards her.

"So, how about it?"

She focused her attention on the man standing in the middle of the almost bare living room. She didn't notice how much room there was until he pushed the furniture away. It was vast and big enough to house an elephant. The man caught her attention again. "Ready?" He held a hand out to her.

"Y-yeah," She said sheepishly and gave him her hand. Her heart was almost about to explode because of the pure embarrassment. _No! It's just a dance! Don't mess up!_ She mentally slapped herself in the head. She squeezed her eyes shut.

He tilted his head to look at her at a better angle. "Are you okay?" It seemed like she was deliberating with herself.

"Yeah," She intertwined her fingers into his and put her left arm on his shoulder. "I've never danced before. I've only seen it in movies and stuff like that." He quickly adjusted his right arm under her left arm. "Wait," Her now noticeably big brown eyes peered up at him. "Shouldn't there be music too? It's an important element for dancing! Unless you plan to sing."

"Oh yeah," He quickly loosened his hands from her grasp and reached for the remote to the music stereo. Alison Krauss's _When You Say Nothing at All_ began playing softly from the speakers. He walked back to her. "Sorry. I don't really have anything ballroom material, so this is all I have. Happy?"

She quickly adjusted herself in dance position. "Very," She smiled. "I'll be leader, you'll be follower," Len stated. Just then, the music started and then they started.

"…_It's amazing how you, can speak right to my heart…"_

Then, they began waltzing around the room. Len spoke in rhythm to the song, counting to eight. "One, two, three, four…," Like any beginner, Kahoko constantly looked down just in case she stepped on him. She was trying to memorize the steps in her head. Len sighed at the helplessness of the girl and explained. "Hino-san."

She looked at him, "What?" missing a beat and stumbled. Luckily, he caught her and instead of falling, she collided into his chest. _Oh crap! Don't embarrass yourself! It's only a ballroom dance! _

"…_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if I ever fall…"_

"Hino-san?" He looked at her at eye level. _She's acting really weird. _"Did you hear me? I said it's important to look at the person when you're dancing."

"Ooh," She blinked twice at him before turning normal. _Her cheeks are flushed,_ He noted. "Sorry, I forgot about that."

"Just remember it for tomorrow. I'll start counting again," He sighed. Teaching beginners wasn't easy, but they would pick up fast, unless they were stupid or something. "One, two, three, four…"

Once again, due to instinct, she looked down again. Len had to lift her chin to look at him. "Remember! Always look at the leader, follower! And if you're worried about stepping on my feet," He looked down to look at his own. "That's the usual mistake for beginners so it's okay. I'm going to make you master the ballroom dance tonight whether you like it or not. Even if that means doing this a thousand times. Alone."

"Okay, okay!" She pouted at him. "Why did I have to get such a strict teacher anyway?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Whatever. You need to just look at me when you're dancing."

"Fine," She sighed and finally lifted her head. She eventually had the courage to look into his honey gold eyes. Her heart rate went up, partly because she didn't know what to say and she was kind of embarrassed. But she didn't know that it was the same for him as well. He was also trapped in her chocolate eyes and suddenly, he felt like his dance routine was weird. It was like…what seemed normal to him all of a sudden seemed distant and foreign. He had never felt like that before, and it was unusual experiencing it for the first time. They both racked their brains for something to say, but it ended in a mere disaster because both didn't want to say anything first. So, their dance session was quiet and the air was tense.

"…_You say it best, when you say nothing at all…"_

Well, that was quite an understatement.

* * *

7.08.11 Removed End notes and revised beginning note and paragraphs.


	4. Meetings

**Whew! I'm proud to say that this one one of those chapters where I really liked writing it! I've always wanted to go to a super fancy formal ball (But you know, being a poor and all...) so I made it all up in my imagination (With the helpful resource of mangas/animes/dramas and stuff of the like). But I do think Len's attempts were pretty cute (You'll see :D) Ahhhhhh...the next time I update just might be next year (Imagine a life without school! That's paradise!) but don't worry, I'm kicking myself in shin to keep that from happening (Look, look! I already have a bunch of weird unnaturally purple bruises!). But hey, enjoy this 9,000+ worded chapter! xD Oh! Just in case you guys were wondering, the character "Shonoko" is that violin girl near the end of chapter 48 of the manga. They only revealed her last name (Miyaji), not her first name, so I made up the first name. So her full name (In this fanfiction at least) is "Shonoko Miyaji". If anyone's an expert in Japanese, could you tell me what "Shonoko" means? Thanks!**

**Song Pick: Swear by Linda Chung**

* * *

**Guardian Angel**

* * *

**A La Corda D'Oro Fanfiction**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

_:-:Dawn of the Ball/Charity Concert:-:_

"Hey Hino!" Len had called out from the kitchen. "We're eating dinner early today!"

There was no reply from the usually chipper girl. He tried calling her name again. "Hino? We're eating early today!"

There was still no reply. He decided to let the soup boil for a minute before looking for the eager redhead. _She just probably got lost exploring the house again._ He arrived at her room and knocked. "Hino? We're eating early today!" His ear was pressed to the door to detect any sound. None. The doorknob clicked when he opened it. It was unlocked too. Last night, Kahoko decided that she wanted the boxes from upstairs to be moved to her room, so they spent three hours last night just moving ALL of them. It was exhausting work and his arms shivered at the memory of carrying so many. There were some boxes that were still unopened and her closet was half empty from hanging the clothes. He slowly walked near the bathroom door and knocked on it slightly. Just in case. "Hino?" No screaming occurred so he assumed she wasn't there.

He opened the fragile doors of the garden and stepped outside. Stone paths were etched into the grass and stretched from here to there. It was still a bit chilly outside, but he could sense that the snow was beginning to melt a bit, due to a tiny puddle of water on the ground. The vast garden which was bordered by high black iron fences showed no signs of tampering or visitors. The white painted pavilion nearby showed no signs of visitors either. The garden was still bare and had a lot of dirt, but it showed no signs of tampering with. The pond was clear, save for some plants and fish swimming in it. Even the swingy bench hadn't moved. It was a clear sign that she wasn't outside. There was a slight movement coming from the rooftop out of the corner of his eye, but he disregarded it as something moving in the wind.

He headed inside and turned off the fire for the soup. There were only two people living in the huge house, and he had no idea where the other one was. He checked every one of the practice rooms: No sign of human presence. The entire first floor was empty except for him. He climbed up the stairs in steady steps. _She couldn't have gone far,_ He reasoned. His room and the bathroom were all clear. His old partner's vast and spacious room (which was now bare) was clear as well. The game room and the balcony were relatively empty as well. _Where in the world could she be?_ His short fingernails scratched his head in confusion.

Suddenly, there were heavy footsteps and thumping coming from the rooftop. He sighed and went up the stairs to fetch the girl. "Hino-san," He paused at the last step on the staircase and gripped the banister before sliding the glass door that led to the third floor. "What in the world are you doing?"

She paused in the middle of exploring to look at him. "Well, duh! What does it look like I'm doing?" She was about to jump in the empty built in rooftop Jacuzzi when he looked at her from the brown polished wooden porch. There were also plants resting in their pots and sitting on the outer ledge. A neat and clean bathroom was also situated in a neat corner of the rooftop. A nearby furnished picnic table also sat comfortably on the wooden porch.

"Crashing my house," He said with a reluctant look. He walked from his position to his white wooden swinging bench. "I'd advise you not to jump in there; it's pretty dirty." At his advice, Kahoko reluctantly stepped away from the Jacuzzi. He continued, "Are you really that amazed by my house? There are some people who have their houses more lavishing than this."

She swung back and forth on the clear window fence that bordered the rooftop. "Are you kidding?" She turned back to look at him. "I think this is one of the richest houses ever! It's pretty too! It makes me want to stay here!"

"You're just a temporary guest remember?" He pointed out.

"Oh…that's right," Her face fell for a minute, then it restarted with energy. "That's right! Why are you up here?"

"We're eating dinner early today to go to the concert, remember?" He stood up in a relaxed composure and headed towards the glass door. "So hurry up and eat."

"Okay!" A bright reply from her came from the rooftop. "I'll be down there in a second!" He disregarded her comment and stepped down the stairs to check up on his soup. She stood at the windowed in fence and breathed in the air deeply. It was almost dawn and the sky was highlighted in an array of orange, pinks, and purples. The sun was hazy in the distance. Fluffy scattered clouds floated carelessly across the beautiful blend of colors. The gentle breeze caressed her face and her red loose strands of hair flew back. She closed her eyes and exhaled, living the moment. "I'd wonder what it'd be like living a normal life. Hmm…I guess I'll never know." She smelled the delights of dinner downstairs and absent mindedly smiled.

She quickly opened her eyes, closed the sliding door, and dashed down two flights of stairs just in time for dinner.

* * *

_:-:Two hours later:-:_

"Tsukimori-kun?" She stepped outside her room in the exact same outfit she wore last night for practice, except this time, she was wearing a silver charm bracelet that she found in one of the boxes. She even added a touch of perfume as well. Delicate notes came from the first practice room that they were always in, so she followed the trail of notes and stood abruptly outside the door to hear him for a bit. He was as professional as ever. There wasn't a flaw in any of his notes at all. She stood outside the metallic door and gradually closed her eyes and nodded to the flow of the music. _That's right…I forgot that he was also in the concert as well. He's been practicing a lot lately. _The door quietly clicked and then she was face to face to the lavishly dressed man in front of her. His hair had been the same as always, so there was no comment on that. But he looked…almost normal dressing up. A silver tie and vest were worn over his clean white ruffled shirt and he even wore a black coat over that. His pants were a sleek black color with individual silver threads reaching down to touch his even sleeker black shoes. "Hino?" He scrunched his eyebrows at her and cocked his head, holding his violin. "What are you doing?"

She smiled sheepishly at him. "I was listening in! Sorry, I know I wasn't supposed to before the concert, but it was really good to listen to." He nodded and went back in to fetch his violin case. "That's okay, as long as you don't know the piece. It's supposed to be a surprise for the guests." He flicked off the lights, gently shutting the practice room with a click from the door. "Let's go then," He beckoned towards the door. She quickly hurried out, regretting to bring a jacket along. She quickly ran towards the sleek black car and shut it loudly. Her nose and ears turned a faint pink. He noticed this as he locked the door and opened it again, briefly disappearing inside for a while. Kahoko leaned forward from her seat and looked at him with curious eyes. _Aren't we going to be late anytime soon?_ She felt uncomfortable in her outfit, as she had never worn such things on usual occasions in the past. _How can rich people maneuver in outfits like these everyday? These formal uniforms…they're so uncomfortable!_ She straightened up in her seat, looking towards the door.

A few minutes later, he appeared outside the house with a jacket in his hands and locked the frosted French door with his key. He swiftly walked towards the car door and opened it. A new blue jacket flopped on her lap and he plopped down on the seat opposite of her. "Wear it," He said with a commanding tone that made her nod stiffly. She threw the jacket over her shoulder and kept it like that. In an instant, her body temperature began cooling down and it made her feel comfortable. The key was pushed in and ignited the engine. A rumbling started beneath their feet and faded out in vibrations, starting the car. The sleek black vehicle pulled out of the driveway and onto the newly cemented road. They headed in the direction of the busy city. The vehicle passed the garden and Kahoko smiled at the faint memory of how she and Len had met. The petals from the trees were almost gone, but some of them still danced down to the ground. Her breath fogged up the glass, her breath taken away.

The air was dry and stale as no conversation ceased between them. The sky had turned a shade darker, and early night life came seeping out of the corners of the busy street they were traveling on. Kahoko looked out the window at the busy city lights in awe. This was clearly the rich kids' part of Japan. Neon lights advertised men and women into their bars, rich shopping shops were still open and roaming shoppers entered without a thought. Sleek cars reflected off light, thus showing off. She had never been to this part of town before, and experiencing it first hand was quite an astonishment for her. However, soon enough, they were stuck in traffic, just the situation that they didn't want to be in. His hand gripped the steering wheel, and she looked outside the window, despite having nothing to look at.

It was him who made the first attempt to speak to get out of the awkward predicament. "Hino-san…"

"Hmm?" Her head eagerly turned towards him, awaiting a chance to speak instead of staring out of windows.

True, it was him who spoke first, but he didn't have a topic to follow up. Inside, he was secretly panicking for a topic. He racked his mind, and its database came out a failure. Only on occasions did he ever need to speak to girls. And most of the time, they were acquainted with him, therefore he came up with a topic fairly easy. He never found a need to talk to strangers before well because…they were simply strangers. But as he looked at her, she wasn't just a stranger. He had saved her as well. The pressure pounded on his brain as his mind went into overdrive.

Now it was her turn to speak up. "Tsukimori-kun," She gently brought him back from all of his thinking.

"Ha?"

She pointed in the direction of the road and chuckled softly. "You've been thinking so much that you ignored the driver behind us beeping." Ahead of him was a clear road with few pedestrians crossing it and he could see the man in the car behind him cursing. He quickly drove up behind the car in front of him waiting for the red light. "Sorry for that," He apologized.

She grinned at him. "No, it's okay. It's rare to see Tsukimori-san not paying attention. What were you thinking about?"

"The concert," He blurted out. There was no way he could tell her that he was actually trying to find a conversation starter between them. That was embarrassing for him to admit.

She looked at him with confusion. "But…earlier you called out my name?"

"Oh," The light turned green and his hands maneuvered the steering wheel. "It was to…remind you to not be so lazy all the time and practice everyday."

"Ahahahahaha!" She gleefully laughed. "Don't worry. I've been setting some time everyday to practice. I think the rooftop is going to be my new favorite place to practice. It's calming up there."

He agreed with that notion. "Yeah. The Jacuzzi is a nice place to be in at night. I almost fell asleep in it once," He felt loosened, now that she unknowingly started to talk to him.

"Really?" She looked up to him in eyes of awe. "I've always wanted to bathe in a Jacuzzi!"

"Maybe you could try it out tomorrow," He briefly looked at her and then kept his focus on the road ahead of him, although traffic was taking longer than expected. "I'll show you how to set it up later, okay?"

"Okay!" She was secretly happy inside. A chance to bathe in a Jacuzzi AND they weren't having an awkward conversation? It was giving her an antsy feeling. She snuggled closer inside the new jacket wrapped around her shoulders.

"But you're going to have to put at least an hour each day to your practice."

"Oh…," Her face instantly fell. She hadn't expected that coming. Well, it _was_ Tsukimori-san that she was talking to. He was just like an old stingy teacher. She sighed and continued to look outside her window. There was less traffic on a minor road that led to Azuma's concert hall and house; therefore he sped up a bit, but under the maximum speed limit. It was a pain in the ass to deal with police about a minor case of speeding, and it wasn't a habit of his to speed either. However, he might accidentally speed if he wasn't concentrating, and he was running a bit late. There was no doubt that Azuma's security guards and the police were there to deal with valuable items. He drove in the entrance of Azuma's fancy neighborhood. Out of all of his high school buddies' houses, he knew Azuma's would beat them all. His family was a high profile society. The Yunoki's had various enterprises and managed lots of companies. Although his grandmother was the leader of the modern enterprise, it was a rule to practice traditional Japanese culture in their home.

Kahoko, once again, stared out the window in awe. Whoever his friend might be, must be super rich. There were fancy looking apartment complexes and condos in the streets. She looked out the window to see an iron gated fence, bordering in a deluxe designed pool for the neighborhood. Although the people living in the neighborhood could have their own pools, there was one just designed for the public. There were barely any people there, but she could imagine people there in the summer time. _They must've been like models like that Ryou person!_ Ryou, she thought, could also live near here as well. A leisurely golf course was also nearby with its rolling evergreen hills and authentic beach looking sand. Numerous tennis courts were opposite of the golf courts and she could barely count them all. _It's just like a retirement neighborhood!_ As they slowly approached the house, cars lined the streets. The vehicles were parked on the sides of the streets and piled on two and three streets down. Kahoko was simply dumbfounded. _It's a house party and a charity concert…the number of guests attending must be HUGE!_

At last, he pulled up to Yunoki Avenue (It was only natural that they lived on a street that was dedicated to them) with only one five story house and three other extravagant decorated buildings. Her jaw literally dropped and reluctantly asked Len a question.

"I-Is this your friend's house?" She asked slowly, with her jaw opened.

"Well, technically no. It's the main house of the Yunoki's. The leader and other respected elder members live here. His grandma organizes charity events like this and Azuma pitches in sometimes. She's a famous philanthropist. Azuma lives somewhere else in this neighborhood, but his sister is still young, so she lives here to pick up the traditional Japanese culture. She's attending some prestigious college, I think."

"S-So he has another house?"

"Yeah. It's bigger than my house and smaller than the main house."

"So why didn't you move here? You seem rich enough."

"Well," He looked at her while his arm rested on the steering wheel. "I quite like my house well enough."

A ton of other cars pulled up to the entrance, where Yunoki's servants did the valet parking. The people coming out of the extravagant vehicles were of various age groups. Young men and mostly women (Kahoko figured that this Azuma guy probably had a lot of admirers, homosexual or not) who looked like they were heirs of famous companies walked with composure towards the entrance of two enormous double doors. Even the elderly and middle aged people were dressed luxuriously in layers of beautiful makeup (No doubt, they hired professional makeup artists) and showed off their jewelry. Kahoko experienced a sinking feeling. There was no way that she could ever fit herself into a high society. He slowly drove up behind a Hummer limousine. "Just a warning, don't let any other guys dance with you or take you away alone. They could be dangerous," He pierced his golden eyes into her. "And pay attention to the concert. You might learn something." She nodded at him, while she pulled off her jacket.

Near the entrance of the house, Len killed the engine and the respectful servants helped both of them out of the car. She awkwardly walked up to Len as he instructed the valet parking guy to "Take care of my car." They had to walk all the way to the front door from where they parked their car. She automatically felt out of place in the high society environment and began to feel uptight. The couple slowly walking in front of them were animatedly intertwining hands and the girl even hugged the guy's arm. She squirmed and looked up at the man that was beside her. He was gripping his case and didn't even worry about the situation in front of them at all. He looked straight ahead and determined, almost fearless. She looked away, trying not to focus on the silence between them.

Slowly, but surely, they reached the front of the entrance.

"Len-kun!" A random stranger sang with a chipper voice.

Both of them synchronize turned at the same time to the direction of the voice, only to find that the woman jumped and wrapped her arms around Len's neck into a hug. She wore a beautiful black halter dress and her stilettos matched her outfit. Her naturally dirty brown curly hair flew out in waves behind her. In that split second, Kahoko was stunned. _Was she his girlfriend or something? She must be someone special…_

She released her grip on him and smiled at him. "Gosh, I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Amou-san?" He slowly realized that it was his old classmate and smiled at her as well. "What are you-oh wait. He would invite you." He smiled at her, making Kahoko feel more nervous and awkward. It dawned on her that she knew no one there. She only knew Ryou and the couple they met earlier. She instantly regretted her invitation to come. _What if I get lost in the crowd? What if I can't find my way out? Man, I shouldn't have come…_Her nervous system involuntary shivered, partly because of the cold and…just nerves.

"Of course!" She disregarded the smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed an awkward looking Kahoko looking around the place and smiled. "And this is…?"

"Right," He gestured an arm towards Kahoko and she nervously smiled. "This is Miss Kahoko Hino, my temporary guest that's staying with me." He gestured toward the dirty blond curly haired lady, who held out her hand toward Kahoko and shook her hand. "And this is Miss Nami Amou, heir of the magazine that you always read, Kahoko; I forgot what it's called."

Kahoko was about to speak when Amou slugged him on the shoulder. "It's called 'The Weekly Sushi'! Get it right, baka!" And then she had the burning impulse to ask the elegant lady a question. "Ano…I think I've read one of your articles before! You're the editor too right?"

She grinned happily. "Of course! My camera is my partner!" She pointed nail to her Coach purse. "I'm always on the job, you know?"

Kahoko gasped. "So does that mean you're going to write about this event too?" She never thought that there were going to be reporters there as well.

She chuckled. "If there's anything interesting, then I'll see what I can do! I have con-"

An elegantly and handsome dressed man accidentally bumped into Nami. "Oh!" He bowed at her in a 90 degree angle. "I'm very sorry for that."

"No," She smiled at him. "It's fine."

He nodded at her and went in the front door. She looked once at the front door ahead of them and nodded her head towards the door. "Shall we continue in there?" They both nodded and headed for the podium where the middle aged man checked off names from a plasma touch screen computer. Nami quickly dug in her purse for her invitation and unfolded a crumply silver invitation. _Oh shoot! There was supposed to be an invitation too?_ She looked briefly at her hands before she remembered that there was nothing there. Len grabbed her wrist in a reassuring grip and whispered in her ear. His breath echoed in her ear. "I have them with me." Her milk chocolate eyes looked at him and nodded curtly.

"Nami Amou." He nodded that he verified her and the two men at the door opened the double doors for her. Kahoko distantly heard her say, "Ahh! This would be the life!" and throwing up her arms in the air. Everyone gave her a look of contempt and she gave them the tongue. Even the servants gave her a funny look. Kahoko sideways glanced him and he gave her a look that stated, "That's-how-she-normally-is."

They moved up and the man at the podium almost looked like he glared at her. She fidgeted under the pressure and ducked her head. Her wrist slipped from Len's into her own. She didn't want to get people to get the wrong impression, especially Nami (Which she started to like). Len's voice spoke while looking at her sudden movement. "Len Tsukimori and Kahoko Hino." He pulled out two neatly unfolded invitations and handed them over. The man took it gingerly from him and nodded them in. The men opened the wide doors and they walked inside.

Once the doors opened and gave them a grand opening, crowds of people looked towards them. The redheaded girl suddenly felt self conscious and looked down at the swirly white, grey and silver floor. The volume turned up even louder when they closed the door, trapping the two people inside. He made a grab for her wrist again. "As long as you stick with me, you won't get yourself in trouble."

Kahoko retorted. "So I'll get into trouble if I get separated from you?"

"Basically."

She turned away from him with a sarcastic look and muttered, "Gee, thanks. It's like I'm a dog or something."

It was a toasty temperature of 72 degrees inside. Two white banisters and staircases were on opposite ends of each other, but both led to the second story, which had a blown up painted and framed portrait of an old lady. The artist had accurately painted every angle, hair, and eyelash. It was perfect and Kahoko's eyes could not stray away from it. _This must be a picture of this Azuma guy's grandma…They hired a good artist for that._ In front of them were crowds of people elegantly dressed and clumped in groups. Black and white servers lined up and down the wall, carrying trays in one hand. Pure white table cloths were draped over rolling tables that were lined with desserts and food. There was even a chocolate fountain. Even though they were on the ground floor, the second, third, and fourth floors were visible. Numerous doors lined the walls and there were even wings and halls beyond that. There was a person that was shifting through the crowd that made people separate. A long haired dark purple guy (She guessed that it was a guy by the tuxedo that he wore) greeted every person by hugging them or greeting them politely. Kahoko noticed that his smiles to them were polite…and weird. Almost fake. It was strange however, because when he reached Nami, she simply threw her arms around him and he accepted it with a genuine smile and whispering some quick words into her ear. Of course, that simple scene earned looks from the guests and the admirers (Unsurprisingly some guys as well, which Kahoko noted) and they chattered loudly up a notch.

"Ne, Tsukimori-kun," She poked him lightly in the ribs with her elbow. "Is there something going on between them?"

He nudged her with his violin case. "Don't be so nosy." She simply nodded with a grin. There _had_ to be something icky sticky sweet between them. There _had_ to be.

Nami finally released her arms from around his neck, waved him goodbye, and went on an adventure to find another person to hug.

The long haired purple guy steadily approached them in a happy mood. "Ah! Len-kun! I'm happy you've made it! It wouldn't be the concert without you!" He blinked several times at the strange young woman standing next to him. "And this is Miss…?"

"Yunoki, this is Miss Kahoko Hino. She's a temporary guest who's staying in my place," Len spoke while Kahoko gingerly shook his hand with her free hand that wasn't attached to Len's. There was something weird about him, but she couldn't quite place it. "Hino, this is Azuma, the grandson of the person who ran the event. He helped organize the concert."

Yunoki smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you, Hino-san."

She smiled at him as well, just not as bright. "Me too, Yunoki-san."

"You know Miss Kahoko," He looked down at Len's hand grabbing Kahoko's wrist. "Len had never invited anybody else but Miss Shonoko to events like these. There would be plenty of other girls who would be willing to go with him to events like these but he picked you. You're very lucky." He chuckled lightly. _Ah…even he mentioned this Shonoko girl…_

"Actually, I'm just a guest of his. He insisted on me coming because if I was home alone, he was sure someone would kill me," Kahoko laughed nervously and pulled her hand away from Len's grasp.

Yunoki noticed the slight movement out of the corner of his eye and grinned mischievously. "Well, Len, please give me an invitation when that time comes!" He laughed softly and moved on to the next guest.

Len narrowed his eyes at Azuma while Kahoko spoke with her eyebrows in confusion. "Why do your friends think that we…um…together?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "They go crazy every time I invite someone to go with me. Don't think too much of it."

They started to walk a few steps before they were interrupted, this time by a middle aged woman and a beautiful young lady. Kahoko noticed that they were clad with lavish jewels and were eager to see him. The young lady had long and gorgeous curls and she pinned it halfway with a jeweled pin. Her make up was perfect and there was no flaw to be seen. However, her mother (It was a guess to the redhead) was on par with her daughter as well. No wrinkles were to be seen and she matched her dress perfectly. They were aristocrats. It was clear enough to her what the mother's intentions were. No doubt the man next to her knew it as well. He still faked a smile at both of them anyway. Kahoko tried to walk in the other direction (As she felt she didn't belong and it was awkward), but Len grasped her hand tightly, and his eyes emitted an "If-I'm-going-to-die-you're-going-down-with-me" kind of look. It was justified to say Kahoko was scared.

"My, my, Tsukimori-kun!" The mother boasted with energy. "You've grown! I've haven't seen you since your parent's concert. And how are you?"

Kahoko eyed the ground while he spoke. "I'm fine Mrs. Shouji-san. I've heard you've been doing quite well in your business too. The jewelry business seems to prosper under your care."

"Yes! It's like my baby. But I think I'm going to have my eldest daughter take over soon," On cue, her daughter stepped up. "Hi, Len-san," She flashed him her perfect teeth. "We've met before at your parent's concert. They were amazing!" He stiffened at his first name (Other than his friends using it), but only Kahoko noticed the slight difference.

"Of course Miss Megumi Shouji," He smiled a fake smile at her. "I remember you."

By now, her mom had left subtly, leaving all three of them left alone. The redhead noticed other aristocrats' daughters eyeing Len with an interest and Kahoko felt threatened with the looks they were giving her. It caused her to look out of place and she turned her head.

"And this might be Miss…?" Megumi trailed on, eyeing the redhead with contempt.

Len tugged on Kahoko's wrist and her head snapped up with a start. "This is Miss Kahoko Hino. She's a temporary guest staying at my place." She could only mouth the word "Hi" and tried to look happy. But in reality, she wanted to be alone at home, watching chick flick movies in her terry cloth track suit.

"Hello, Miss…Hino," She gingerly shook Kahoko's hand and pulled it back after two seconds of physical contact. "I've never heard of your last name before, Hino. Which family do you come from?"

"Excuse me?" She could only manage to come up with a flimsy excuse. After all, not even Len had asked about her family and she didn't feel like talking about it either. Len sensed her reluctance and interrupted.

"Ah…Miss Hino is a special guest of my mother's," Len smoothly pulled out the excuse. "Excuse me, but I have to prepare for the concert. I'll see you later." And with that, he pulled Kahoko along by the wrist, but timely interruptions blocked their way. Aristocrats and their daughter's were introduced to Len and they were pretty much the same as the Megumi woman. They gave Kahoko looks of scorn and swooned over Len. They were like people with no substance, but power and riches. Even other people without daughters approached him, making Kahoko feel even more self consious. Each time they wanted to escape, they used the same excuse until they were finally free.

She was in the middle of the staircase when she plopped down on a random stair. Len just leaned on a wall with his violin case in his hands. She spoke first after a minute of rest. "Hahhhh. You're popular among the rich peoples' daughters here, aren't you? It must be nice to know that you're appreciated."

"The attention is tiring, although I don't doubt Ryou would love this attention," Kahoko giggled slightly. "I only act polite with them not to offend their parents. It's getting exhausting to wear a fake smile to them," He sighed. "It's a good thing you're normal."

Her ears turned up and her head tilted up to look at him. "Normal?"

"Different from other girls," He restated looking at the front door below them.

"Different?" She raised an eyebrow to inquire further, but quickly banished the idea. "By the way, where are your friends?"

"Hmm…I don't really know. I didn't see Ryou or Nami," He turned back to look at her. "Did you see them?"

She quickly shook her head. Just in time for a familiar Rolex watch to wave to them. "Hey guys!" The man whispered.

Both of them turned upstairs in the direction of the low voice. "Ryou?" Kahoko whispered. "What are you doing upstairs?"

"Get up here! I'll tell you later!" He disappeared behind a room and the two people looked at each other and shrugged. Soft footsteps followed the short and dark haired man to a chandelier lit room. It was an even more deluxe game room than the one Len had at home. White fluffy carpet was embedded onto the floor. There was a built in wall TV like the ones in movie theaters and sound systems were on the sides of it. Gaming systems lined the bottom shelf on the built in wall TV. There were cushy massage chairs and game chairs facing the TV. There were six people there, but only five that she recognized. The only one she didn't recognize was a green haired and tanned man standing next to Nami. He looked like those skinny muscular jocks at school. He met her gazed and smiled at her. She did the same.

"Hey Len, you really did bring Kaho!" Ryou slugged Len harder on the shoulder than Nami did. "Hey Kaho!"

"Hey Ryou!" She smiled genuinely for the first time since they had been there. She began to loosen up a little after having to socialize with the noble families.

He gave her his fist and they fist bumped. "I had to get all of them up here because I was bored playing Modern Warfare 2 with Kazuki," He picked up a PS3 wireless remote control and threw another one over to Len, who set his case on a massage chair. "Oh yeah, Kaho. I was told that you met everyone here except Kazuki," Ryou paused and the tanned man approached the girl. "This is Kazuki Hihara. The other guy who hasn't beaten me in a video game yet." He noogied Kazuki under one arm while continuing the introductions. "And this is Miss Kahoko Hino, Len's 'temporary guest'," He emphasized the two words while Nami put and arm on Kahoko's shoulder. "She's a special one alright!" She winked at Len while he glared at her from his seat. Shimizu patted Len on the head while Fuuyumi took the massage chair next to Shimizu. Kazuki finally got his head out of Ryou's grasp and added a comment. Kahoko decided that it was best not to say anything at that juncture.

"So where's your special prince charming?" Kazuki grinned mischievously at Nami. She blushed and turned away. Kahoko wondered if he was talking about the grandson of the person who owned the house. "He's out socializing again because…you know how his family is," She thwacked Kazuki on the head with her purse. "And you! This is supposed to be secret!" He held his head and Nami looked at Kahoko, giving her a quick wink. "It's a secret, okay?"

Kahoko nodded, happy with keeping this new secret and winked back. Nami graciously smiled and returned to the conversation. "Your girlfriend skipped out again, Kazuki?"

"Ah yeah. But this time she was really sick but she still insisted for me to come anyway."

Kahoko plopped into the seat next to Len and Kazuki leaned on Len's chair while he was playing Modern Warfare 2 with Ryou. The TV lit up with colorful lights as Ryou rocked back and forth on his chair, moving to the beat of the game. It seemed like Ryou was beating Len due to his violent pressing of buttons on the controller. She almost thought that it was going to break. Shimizu shared a seat with Shoko and leaned his head on her shoulder, half asleep. Kahoko was careful not to squish Len's violin while she leaned back to watch the TV. Eventually, they cleared a level and Kazuki and Nami declared to play a new game.

"Hey! We gotta play tennis on the Wii!" Nami declared after the game. "Ryou and I gotta be on opposing teams!"

"Bring it on blonde! Just don't cry when I whoop your ass!" He sneered at her in a competitive way.

"I'm going to be on Ryou's team!" Kazuki brightly declared. Ryou gave him a fist bump while giving Nami a triumphant glance.

"Kazuki, you traitor!" Nami tried to slap him upside the head, but he dodged in the nick of time. "Len and all the other people are all suckers at playing video games!"

"Hey! I lost only by a few points..." Len retorted to her previous comment.

Nami poked her tongue out at him and grabbed Kahoko's wrist. "But I bet you aren't the match of Kaho-chan! I heard she's played tennis before!"

Kazuki and Ryou threw wondering glances in Kahoko's direction. Even though she and Len knew that Nami was bluffing, Kahoko found it fun to play along. "Yeah! How'd you know Nami?" She secretly winked at her and Nami secretly smiled.

"Game on?"

"Game on!" They both replied. Ryou was about to press the "On" button, but a velvety voice broke their sentence. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen."

"Awwww," The entire second floor moaned in unison. Ryou muttered to Nami, "There comes your prince." Nami flashed him a smile while she walked out with the others to watch what was going on. They stayed on the second floor, looking directly down at the purple haired prince. He stood side by side with an elderly woman (Kahoko guessed that it was the grandma/leader) and another woman in an elegant purple dress and wavy brown Taylor Swift like hair. Kazuki poked Ryou in the ribs and nodded in the direction of the wavy haired girl and grinned mischievously at him. Ryou slugged him on the shoulder and continued staring at the girl with a smile an old perverted man had, just scarier. It was creeping Kahoko out and she decided to ask Len why that was.

"That girl down there is Yunoki's sister," He whispered and pointed at her. "And the reason why Ryou is acting creepy like that is because he is her girlfriend. They do it all the time."

She gaped. "Are you serious? It's just like a modern Romeo and Juliet!"

"No. I'm quite serious. In fact, the Rolex watch he's always wearing is from her for his 23rd birthday present."

She whispered closely in his ear. "He's a good guy right?"

He put his chin on his hand. "He is. He actually wanted to pay back for it, but she insisted. And I'm sure her brother would've done that ages ago if he made the wrong move. He's reformed his habits, you could say. But he doesn't refuse a dance from a lady if she wanted one, which goes fine by Miyabi. Just as long as most of the dances belong to her."

She put a hand on her forehead. "Unbelievable."

As if she heard the whole conversation, the brunette from below looked up. And her eyes landed on said boyfriend. She smiled and he scrambled behind Kazuki, as if he was scared of her, but still held out a hand and waved. The brunette below chuckled and stared at him for another five seconds before redirecting her gaze.

Kahoko laughed. "Hey, are you really scared of her?"

He spoke out from behind Kazuki, who was trying to escape his grasp. "I'm not scared of her! Her grandmother is hella scary! She's like the scary old lady who comes out and scares you from those haunted houses on Halloween!"

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen," Azuma cleared his throat.

He glanced up for a second, saw Nami, and flashed a perfect smile at her. He continued his speech after the crowd grew quiet.

"Hello everyone! I am Azuma Yunoki and I thank you for coming to our charity event!"

A round of applause echoed loudly. Nami, however, was the most enthusiastic and she whistled at him as well. He continued his speech and explained the charity. He even explained how the night was supposed to go. First off was the concert, and the second was an option of two: an auction of various valuable Renaissance pieces or a ballroom dance. Kahoko's chest tightened up. She knew her dance skills were only amateur and did not like being discussed about if she fell. She narrowed her eyes at Len, who promptly ignored her glare. In the middle of his speech, Len took his violin case; Kazuki took a small instrument case, and left with Ryou and Shimizu downstairs. Only the three women were left upstairs listening to Azuma. Kahoko gently poked Shoko in the arm, because Nami was too busy staring at her prince charming to notice.

"Hmm?"

"Where'd they go?" She pointed downstairs in the direction that the men left. She had forgotten the reason why Len brought his violin in the first place.

"Oh! They're going to perform the charity concert with other people," She pointed down at the small people politely leaving in the middle of the speech. "They're going to perform too."

"Oh! That's right! I forgot!" Kahoko realized. "Do you play an instrument too?"

She smiled. "Yes! I play the clarinet! But I couldn't perform because of him," She caressed her stomach with her hand. "Shimizu told me not to because he said my posture would affect it."

Kahoko smiled. "Your husband is so sweet."

She beamed. "I'm so lucky to have him."

"Now please walk to the newly built concert hall which is the room to the right of you," He gestured an arm towards the double doors and two fairly dressed men opened the doors. "…And please have a great time!"

The audience clapped for him straight for a minute before anyone really bothered to step towards the door. Nami quickly headed in the direction of the crowd and Kahoko and Shoko had to be careful and follow her toward the auditorium. Before Nami was just an inch away from tapping on Yunoki's shoulder, another man got to him first. Nami looked back at them and rolled her eyes while watching him walk away. "People these days," She muttered.

"Better luck next time!" Shoko stood giggling along with Kahoko. "Anyway, shall we go?"

Nami mischievously poked Shoko's cheek. "You just want to hear your darling Shimizu perform."

Shoko poked her back in the ribs. "And you don't have the same agenda?"

She jumped and pouted at Shoko. "Well don't look at me like that if I admit I do," She leaned forward to look at Kahoko who was besides Shoko. "And I bet Kahoko is watching for Len, isn't she?"

He was right. His friends were pretty crazy. "Oh no! I'm just a temporary guest. He's just nice enough to let me stay," She nervously laughed.

"And you're telling a reporter this?" She scoffed. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! You're going to fall in love with him!"

"Fall in love with him?" Kahoko repeated a bit too loudly. People gave her the looks and she immediately lowered her voice. "There's no way! We're totally opposites and just…no," She shook her head. She wouldn't even dare.

"That's what I said about Azuma too," Her finger touched Kahoko's nose. "You just never know."

"Whatever," The redhead stated as soon as she stepped into the auditorium. But as soon as she did so, Nami and Kahoko froze in their places. It was like an actual opera house, complete with a high ceiling with a painting on it and a balcony. There was even and instrument pit below the actual stage. It was completely furnished in red and gold and even the seats looked comfortable enough to sleep in. Their jaw dropped and their thoughts were on the same wavelength: _Where in the world did they get enough money to build this? _

Shoko waved a hand in front of them, "Hello?"

They snapped out of their amazement and Nami spoke first. "Aww come on! My family isn't even that rich to afford a built in opera house," She punched the nearest fuzzy red carpet wall. "I concede defeat. Damn him!"

The two women could only pull her out of despair and drag her to the middle of the fifth row. The lights dimmed and it was clear that they were starting. Len and company mainly sat near the front row with Ryou sitting in front of a grand piano. Shimizu held an enormous cello in his hands. Azuma sat with his silver flute in his hands and so did Kazuki, only with a shiny and polished silver trumpet.

Kahoko whispered to Shoko. "I never knew Shimizu played cello! I never even knew Azuma played flute!"

She only smiled back in reply and said, "They take pride in their instruments like it's their baby. They've been practicing a lot." She winked and put a finger to her lips.

Azuma stood up with one of his opening speeches and the audience gave him massive heaps of claps. It was like they would die if they didn't give him 200,000 of them. At last, they relented and allowed Len to start of the piece. He gently tugged his bow across his violin and melodic notes strung out to the audience. It was just so…calming. Kahoko absent mindedly started to yawn and her eyelids drooped. Her head also leaned back in her chair and dropped at an angle. _I can't sleep now *yawn* but it sounds like a lullaby…I'm sure he'll understand...that I was never much of a...party animal anyway..._

* * *

A violent shaking brought her dream of cookies and cream to a crashing reality. "Hino-san!"

"Ughhh," She hit her hand with her palm multiple times and gradually opened her eyes. The seats in front of her, where strangely…empty. She blinked her eyes a thousand times and looked at the angry blue haired man beside her. "Sorry! Was I out long?"

He leaned back in his seat. "You missed the whole thing."

She was stunned. "I missed the whole thing?"

"And after I told you to pay attention, you go off and drool. Amou took a picture of it too and left you here to go dance with her Yunoki."

"She did?" He nodded and she frowned. "So what are you doing here?" She questioned him, fearing an ulterior motive.

"I'm not like Edward Cullen who watches you sleep," He rolled his eyes at her. "I was here to wake you up obviously."

"Now I understand why you don't move into this neighborhood," She swiftly changed the topic. "You're not rich enough like that Azuma person, huh?"

He cringed his eyebrow. "His family is prominent among Japan. It's only natural that other enterprise leaders come gather at a big house. I think a house is something cozy and private not some big party house."

She stood up with a start, thinking about the dance, and normally sat down. She didn't want to remind him about dancing because she was afraid of falling on her feet. But this time, it was Len who stood up. Kahoko's pupils widened. She quickly looked for a topic to discuss about. "Say! Where's your violin case?"

"In the car," He stood in front of her with a commanding look. She braced herself for what he was going to say next. "If you don't want to dance, then don't."

Kahoko stared at him in disbelief. "What?" She didn't expect that coming.

"Do you really want me to repeat that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"There's got to be some kind of catch to this." She looked at him suspiciously.

"I just don't want to dance with all of those other girls. Because I precisely know what their intentions are."

She sighed and stood up. "I guess I know what you mean. You already have a girlfriend and those beautiful looking daughters of bluebloods like you a lot too-"

"What?" He stopped her in her tracks. "I never said I had a girlfriend."

"What?" She looked at him with doubt. "How can you not?"

"What are you talking about?" He was perplexed and walked towards the exit with her.

"You know what? Never mind," She said. The servants opened the huge double doors for them as they left. "It's a shame that we won't be seeing them again anytime soon. They were very nice."

"Oh you'll see them everywhere," The valet guy threw Len his keys and he caught it with ease. "It's a small world."

The servants opened both of the car doors for the guests and shut it with a thud. Kahoko unconsciously reached for the jacket and wrapped it around her. He ignited the engine and slowly drove away from the residence. Again, they didn't talk that night and sleep easily caught up to Kahoko again. This time, instead of princess-carrying Kahoko to her room like last time, he left the car in his temperature controlled garage and left her in there.

Needless to say, she thought she was kidnapped the following morning.

* * *

Kahoko wiped the sweat off of her brow despite the chilly climate, although it was approaching early spring. "Come on Tsukimori-san! This isn't fair!" She complained at the leisurely man sitting on the bench opposite of her. "I have to clean the WHOLE house for not dancing? You wanted to come home anyway," She continued mopping the inside of the Jacuzzi.

"This was the catch. You didn't want to dance so I gave you another option: Cleaning the whole entire house and extra violin lessons," He sat at the picnic table, munching on a granola bar.

"But you told me to clean the garden too! And aren't you tired of teaching me all the time?" She tried to chuck her shoe at him, but he neatly dodged her pale blue Converse sneaker.

_*Door Bell Rings*_

"Clean it up good," He addressed to her. "I'll get the door."

She gave him a sour look as she began to scrub the Jacuzzi floor harder with frustration. Len opened the French door, not even suspecting who it was. "Yes?"

"Hey!"

Len gave them a cold look. "You guys again?"

* * *

7.08.11 Revised Beginning Note, removed End Note, revised paragraphs


	5. Author's Note

Dear Beloved Supporters and Readers,

I don't even know how to start, but there is one thing in mind. I cannot express into words how deeply sorry I am for leaving on an abrupt hiatus. My personal life took over (No excuse, I know) and it got out of control for a while, but it's okay now. I must be really bad, because you probably don't even remember the story by now (I need to refresh my memory as well!)

I'm not planning to drop this story because of A Fateful Engagement (Tentative Title). I'm working on both at the same time, but I'm tweaking a few things (the story is the same, I'm just making Ryou more friendly instead of a playboy) and I removed my end note at the end, as there was no point in it if I already had a beginner note. This time, I'm glad I planned ahead for this story, so it wasn't disorganized like Engagement. I just need to plan out the main story by chapter (like listing main points by chapter). This, typing, revising and editing may take an undetermined amount of time, but I will come back to post regularly. I plan to prewrite the whole story, and have regular updates for consistency to make up for my lack of.

Without you guys, there wouldn't be this story at all, so thank you very much :D


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